LONDON -(Dow Jones)- A large increase in mining merger and acquisition activity may not materialize in the months ahead given the financial environment, West Africa-focused gold miner Randgold Resources Ltd. (GOLD) said Wednesday.
"M&A is wishful thinking by investment bankers," Randgold's chief executive officer Mark Bristow told Dow Jones Newswires.
He said there would be "cherry-picking" deals and some deals out of necessity as stressed companies merge in order to survive.
Bristow said Randgold was combing through projects, but wouldn't consider buying anything with an annual capacity of less than 3,000 troy ounces. Additionally, he said too many operations relied on a high price of gold to be profitable.
"It's easy to talk about acquisition, but we don't want to buy debt," Bristow said.
For example, AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU) said it was in talks to sell its Mali assets, some of which are part of a joint venture with Randgold.
"We would only consider it at a bargain price," Bristow said. "We don't need to buy it. We're not a collector of old assets."
More attractive assets for Randgold are smaller companies that have collected information about assets, which takes a lot of time, and are ready or close to being ready to start mining.
"We're not interested in instant gratification," Bristow said.
-By Devon Maylie; Dow Jones Newswires; (4420) 7842 9483; devon.maylie@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 03, 2008 10:20 ET (15:20 GMT)

Publié le 03 Décembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones