M&A Best Practices in the Mining Industry. The case of St Barbara Ltd and Allied Gold Mining Plc (PDF)

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2017 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 72%, Kingston University London (Kingston business school), course: M.B.A, language: English, abstract: Globalisation and the increased importance of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) in the corporate world, continue to be the focus and centre of attention of many. The constant increase in the volume of transactions and deal value in all sectors, has led to many researches in the field of M&A, focussing on deal structuring, integration process identification, and also success factors. Being unique, a limited research has been focussed on the mining sector, hence it is valuable to investigate M&A factors of success in the mining industry. Therefore, the research question of "Critical success factors for M&A, and best practices in the mining industry" has been raised. Comprehensive list of critical success factors has been identified through a broad literature review, to endeavour the practicality of each factor to the mining sector. Also, the author has conducted a case study analysis method, to provide a real-life expertise of M&A in the mining industry, based on secondary data and annual reports. The case of ST Barbara Mining Limited (SBM AU) takeover of Allied Gold Mining (ALD AU) was investigated, in order to identify critical factors of success pre and post-merger in the Gold mining sector.
Addressing the research question, the findings indicate that success factors of an M&A deal in mining industry depends on the time of the deal announcement, geological assessment of the target assets, and the geo-location of the mine. The research concludes that success factors if aligned to a company strategic plan, could increase chances of success of an M&A deal in the mining sector. The findings contribute valuable guidance to both practitioners and researchers in the mining field.
For companies operating M&A in the mining sector, It is recommended to focus on pricing efficiency and the integration process post-merger. For the target company, management should be lenient towards deal price disagreement and compromise to avoid post-transaction completion issues. For the acquirer firm, overpayment should be avoided, coupled with an increase in efficiency and professionalism during the integration process, as well as preventing conflict of interest.