Proactive Investors - Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Corporation revealed that it plans to undertake a new share repurchase program to buy back additional common shares.
The Toronto-based mining company that produces gold and copper with 16 operating sites in 13 countries, said that its board has authorized a new program for the repurchase of up to $1 billion of the company’s outstanding common shares over the next 12 months at prevailing market prices.
In connection with the new share repurchase program, Barrick has terminated the share repurchase program announced by the company on February 16, 2022. Barrick repurchased $424 million in common shares under its 2022 share repurchase program.
“After the success of last year’s buyback program, this new program gives us a further opportunity to repurchase our shares when we believe that they are trading in a price range that does not reflect the value of the company’s mining and financial assets and future business prospects,” said Barrick CEO Mark Bristow.
“We continue to have the financial strength to undertake this program,” he added.
Under the program, repurchases can be made from time to time through markets in the US such as the New York Stock Exchange using a variety of methods, including open market purchases, as well as by any other means permitted under the rules of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said the company.
Barrick said that from time to time, the market price of its shares trade at prices that may not adequately reflect their underlying value. It added that the actual number of shares that may be bought, if any, and the timing of such purchases, will be determined by Barrick based on several factors, including the company’s financial performance, the availability of cash flows, and the consideration of other uses of cash, including capital investment opportunities, returns to shareholders, and debt reduction.
The repurchase program doesn’t obligate the company to acquire any particular number of shares, and the program may be “suspended or discontinued at any time at the company’s discretion,” noted Barrick.