#Cannacord Genuity

[the-blockchain-news]

BLOK Technologies Raising CAD 3 Million in Private Placement

BLOK Technologies Raising CAD 3 Million in Private Placement #BLOKTechnologies #Canada #CannacordGenuity #Fundraising

BLOK Technologies, the Canadian blockchain investor and incubator, is raising CAD 3 million through a private placement, to finance further growth of its emerging blockchain technology investments. The agreement, announced in a press release on Wednesday, is for Canaccord Genuity and Gravitas Securities to act as co-lead agents on a brokered private placement offering up to 10,000,000 units of…

[xbacklily]

raquette de tennis pour femme

‘J'ai même fait une paire pour Kate Moss, comme elle l'a déjà fait certains emblématique dans sa carrière pousses Bowie. De nombreux sneakerheads ont déjà commencé à se référant à 2009 comme l'année de la asics blackhawk 4 tout simplement en raison de la pléthore de AJ1 communiqués que nous avons vu au cours de ces derniers mois. À l'approche de la Element Quai54 édition, nous ne manquerons pas de mettre à jour ici, alors revenez. ‘J'ai examiné certains de ses créations de meubles. Cette paire dispose d'assez simple d'un haut blanc avec des accents jaunes. Tennis De Table Rabais ‘autorité sportive a généralement été handicapée par de mauvaises immobilier, vieux magasins avec peu d'investissements et de pauvres il systems ‘, a écrit Cannacord Genuity analyste Camillo Lyon dans une note cette semaine. Blahnik être comme Oscar contender pour 2017. Asics 'Raging Bull' Moments Package II : 05 / 2009Style Number: 360968-991 School Asics Ol 'hearkens à un temps plus simple. Post-défilé rituel:’J'ai sommeil Tennis De Table Pas Cher dans le till 8 h, aller pour un massage, mani-pedi, prendre le thé au lit et découvrez les critiques en ligne. C'était rafraîchissant de voir moins de flats ici, au moins, comme nous n'avons pas vu un talon sur la piste pendant quelques saisons maintenant. Baisse hebdomadaire et NT. La chaussure est constituée en cuir verni et denim sur la partie supérieure et est interspliced . Les randonneurs fait de nombreuses apparitions avec lacets de ruban et un intercalaire à rayures. Le menswear côté de cette équation pourrait avoir été explorées plus avant, mais ce n'est pas vraiment dans son féminine timonerie. Je ne sais pas ce que j'ai fait, mais les chaussure asics de ville que j'ai fait à partir d'années avant d'être populaire semblons encore maintenant et toujours de la vente. Bien que la kayano asics venu sous le feu de nombreuses têtes de baskets en raison de sa conception, pour certains de ces chaussures ont grandi sur eux et ce PE est une édition bienvenue. Voici votre chance de posséder un morceau de l'histoire Asics avec cette rétro des éliminatoires colorway. L'entreprise a signé UCLA secondeur et haut 2016 PERSPECTIVE Myles Tennis De Table Rabais Jack pour un partenariat pluriannuel. www.sportsoldes.com/tennis

[leanpick]

Canadian group Cannacord Genuity snaps up Perth’s Patersons Securities for $25m Shareholders in WA’s oldest stockbroking firm, Patersons Securities, will share about $25 million as part of an agreed buyout by fast-growing Canadian financial services group Cannacord Genuity.

[moneydjnews]

抗體療法潛力媲美疫苗？外資唱多Regeneron

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals採用抗體雞尾酒療法，治療新冠肺炎患者。此種療法能減輕病症、又有預防效果，有外資認為潛力媲美疫苗，大力看好Regeneron股價。

  MoneyDJ XQ全球贏家系統報價顯示，10日Regeneron下跌1.93%收608.24美元。今年以來大漲61.99%。

  Barron`s、IBD 10日報導，上個月Regeneron啟動抗體雞尾酒療法的後期臨床試驗，受試者預料達2,000人，此種療法能中和新冠肺炎病毒的活性。Cannacord Genuity分析師John Newman報告稱：「Regeneron的REGN-COV2抗體雞尾酒療法，能立即治療新冠肺炎患者，疫苗辦不到….我們相信REGN-COV2是亟需解方，具有即刻影響力，也能在疫苗問世後，提供補充保護」。

 Newman估計，第三階段人體試驗的初步結果，會搶在疫苗之前…

[dinafbrownil]

Bristol-Myers Squibb holds lead among myeloma drugs with popular antigen target, analyst writes

A Cannacord Genuity analyst pointed to BMS’ large pipeline of BCMA-targeting therapies and advanced data, particularly for its CAR-T. However, GlaxoSmithKline has also asserted its anti-BCMA drug could be first past the FDA finish line. But does it matter?

from Updates By Dina https://medcitynews.com/2020/01/bristol-myers-squibb-holds-lead-among-myeloma-drugs-with-popular-antigen-target-analyst-writes/

[click2watch]

Canaccord Analysts Predict Bitcoin Price Return to $20K In 2021

Analysts at Canaccord Genuity expect to see a little bit of history repeating.

In a research note sent to the investment bank’s clients Thursday, analyst Michael Graham and associates Matthew Volpe and Alexander Frankiewicz predicted a return to bitcoin’s stratospheric late-2017 high over the next 24 months.

They wrote:

Now four months into 2019, we note for the third time the striking similarity in bitcoin’s price action between 2011-2015 and 2015-2019. While this simple pattern recognition has little fundamental basis, we note that bitcoin does operate on a four-year cycle of sorts, as the halving of bitcoin’s mining reward occurs approximately every four years. Bitcoin has started to form the spring 2019 bottom we began mentioning last year, although a close look at the chart suggests the recovery may be slightly ahead of itself. Looking ahead, if bitcoin were to continue following the same trend, the implication is a slow climb back toward its all-time high of ~$20,000, theoretically reaching that level in March 2021.

The analysts also noted more movement in the crypto markets, saying that about “7 million bitcoins have been shaken out of ‘Cold’ (not active for at least six months) status and have begun trading hands again.”

Graph courtesy of Canaccord.

Since no one knows what the future holds, the analysts overlaid two past performances over each other, noting that with each halving of the block reward, the bitcoin price rose dramatically. The next halving is expected in 2020.

The team also points to increased Wall Street interest in cryptocurrency as a catalyst for price growth, writing:

Perhaps most important is Fidelity’s continued push into the space. After the asset management giant launched Fidelity Digital Assets last October and a custody service in March, numerous reports suggest the launch of an institutional digital assets trading business within the next few weeks. Fidelity also released a survey of 411 US institutional investors which found that 40% are open to owning digital assets within the next five years. Another factor may be Grayscale’s “Drop Gold” advertising campaign, which hit airwaves recently and targets digitally native investor base that may prefer bitcoin to gold as a non-government store of value investment. Yet another could be several corporate crypto initiatives from the likes of Facebook, Nike, and others gaining attention in the media.

The Cannacord analysts’ bottom line: It’s looking good.

“In any event, bitcoin is so far one of the best-performing assets of 2019,” they wrote.

Bull image via Shutterstock

This news post is collected from CoinDesk

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[currencyspeaks]

Cannacord分析师预测比特币价格在2021年回归至20,000美元

             Canaccord Genuity的分析师希望看到一些重复的历史。

在周四发给投资银行客户的研究报告中，分析师迈克尔·格雷厄姆及其同事马修·沃尔佩和亚历山大·弗兰克维奇预测，未来24个月将回到比特币2017年末的高位。

他们写道：

现在进入2019年的四个月，我们第三次注意到2011-2015和2015-2019之间比特币价格行动的惊人相似性。虽然这种简单的模式识别几乎没有根本基础，但我们注意到比特币确实在四年的周期内运行，因为比特币的采矿奖励减半大约每四年发生一次。比特币已经开始形成我们去年开始提到的2019年春季的底部，尽管仔细观察图表表明复苏可能略微领先于自身。展望未来，如果比特币继续遵循同样的趋势，其含义是缓慢回升至20,000美元的历史最高点，理论上在2021年3月达到该水平。

分析师还注意到加密市场的更多动向，称大约“700万比特币…

[mikemortgage]

‘A hit to SNC’s reputation’: Chilean state-owned miner fires embattled company, adding to its woes

As it battles federal criminal charges in Canada, Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. has found itself in a dispute with yet another government entity — the Chilean state-owned copper miner Codelco.

On Monday, Codelco fired SNC from a $350-million contract to build two sulphuric acid plants, citing construction delays and quality issues.

It marks a third front on which the giant engineering and construction company has gotten crosswise with a government entity, in addition to Canada and Saudi Arabia. The incident underscores how much of SNC’s expansive business — which includes work on nuclear facilities, construction and design for oil and gas facilities and also clean power projects — is connected to government-funded contracts.

A legal analysis of the roads forward for SNC-Lavalin

SNC-Lavalin eyes ways to protect business ‘if the worst came to the worst’ amid political crisis

Was SNC-Lavalin denied a deal all because of three simple but misunderstood words?

“Having a contract terminated by the world’s largest copper miner is a clearly a hit to SNC’s reputation within the mining industry,” Yuri Lynk, an analyst with Cannacord Genuity Corp. wrote on Tuesday. “It is extremely rare for a project sponsor to cancel a contract … especially so close to completion.”

Derek Spronck, an analyst with RNC wrote that the latest news suggests SNC’s relationship with Codelco has “further soured” and could make any recoveries of the money it already spent to build the project more difficult.

Still, both analysts described the impact of the incident as minimal, in part because mining accounted for less than five per cent of SNC’s revenue in 2018, and the company has already written off the entire Codelco project as a $350-million loss; but also because the company is shifting its business strategy away from such high-risk construction projects.

Now, as SNC looks to shift more into decommissioning nuclear sites in the U.S. and Canada and clean energy projects, it is increasingly threatened by a potential criminal conviction in Canada on charges it paid millions of dollars in bribes to Libyan government officials in exchange for lucrative contracts there.

Mora Johnson, an Ottawa-based lawyer who previously served as head of the Canadian delegation to the OECD working group on bribery, said that a conviction could well have consequences outside this country.

Johnson said five multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, and others in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas, signed a “cross debarment” agreement, in which they stipulated that an organization debarred by one bank will be sanctioned by the others.

“There will be a wide range of approaches that different governments take, but there will undoubtedly be some governments for which a conviction or perhaps even a deferred prosecution agreement could disqualify a company,” she said.

At home, news headlines have for weeks been dominated by articles about whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau improperly pressured his former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to settle the federal criminal charges with SNC, so that the company can avoid the harshest consequences of a conviction.

SNC chief executive Neil Bruce has said a conviction would likely bar his company from bidding on federal contracts in Canada, which would limit its ability to work here.

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia — where during the last decade SNC has completed more than 300 projects worth $12 billion — Bruce said the company can no longer expect future work as a result of a diplomatic rift that opened last year when Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland tweeted about the Middle Eastern country’s poor record on human rights.

SNC refuses to disclose exactly how much of its $14.9-billion backlog involves government-related work, or to what extent a criminal conviction in Canada threatens its overall business.

“I’ve looked into this and we do not provide this percentage externally,” an SNC spokeswoman told the Financial Post via email.

The company’s stock has declined nearly 46 per cent over the last 12 months, hitting a low of $33.30 in February. The shares were trading Tuesday at $34.28 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, down 0.2 per cent on the day.

In February, Bruce was asked on an investor conference call whether the company is considering a sale or a merger, and said a special board committee has already hired advisers to explore future options.

“We are constantly looking at … all of the future opportunities,” he said.

• Email: gfriedman@nationalpost.com | Twitter: GabeFriedz

from Financial Post https://ift.tt/2CIi7ol via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

[yervand63]

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB) CEO Terry Booth on Q2 2019 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB) CEO Terry Booth on Q2 2019 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE:ACB) Q2 2019 Earnings Conference Call February 11, 2019 6:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Cam Battley – Chief Corporate Officer

Terry Booth – CEO

Glen Ibbott – CFO

Conference Call Participants

Tamy Chen – BMO Capital Markets

Matt Bottomley – Cannacord Genuity

Jason Tandberg – PI Financial

Michael Livery – Piper Jaffrey

Martin Landry – GMP Securities

Graeme Reindeer –…

[cannabisresins]

A Winnipeg-based company has entered into a $20 million financing deal as it prepares to supply the recreational marijuana market with legal cannabis. Delta 9 Cannabis announced Wednesday that Cannacord Genuity Corp. is purchasing 7.41 million shares in the company at $2.70 per share. Delta 9 ... Read More...

[kalkine]

G8 Education Ltd Concerns relating to oversupply in Childcare centres

G8 Education Ltd Concerns relating to oversupply in Childcare centres

Concerns relating to oversupply in Childcare centres: G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM) stock lost over 8% on May 03, 2017 owing to weakening sentiments based on the oversupply of childcare centres. A research report from Cannacord Genuity has expressed concerns over number of Childcare centers in Australia and their proximity in a particular region as per March quarter update (about 1.6% rise in…

[payslots-blog]

David Baazov insider trading trial to feature anonymous informant

Former Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov will stand trial on insider trading charges in a Quebec court in November, a judge ruled on Tuesday.

According to a report in The Globe & Mail, Quebec Court Judge Claude Leblond held a hearing on Tuesday during which he set a November 20 date for the start of Baazov’s trial on insider trading stemming from his former role as head of Amaya, the parent company of PokerStars.

The possibility remains that Baazov (pictured), who has pled not guilty to the charges, could strike a deal with prosecutors that would preclude the need for a trial. In the meantime, both prosecutors and Baazov’s legal team are gearing up for a trial that could last up to 13 weeks.

In March 2016, Baazov and two other individuals – fellow Amaya exec Benjamin Ahdoot and former Amaya financial advisor Yoel Altman – were hit with 23 insider trading charges by Quebec securities regulator Autorité des marches financiers (AMF).

Three companies – Diocles Capital Inc., Sababa Consulting Inc. and 2374879 Ontario Inc. – were also charged in the case. The AMF has accused Baazov of using a front to disguise stock trading activity in advance of Amaya’s $4.9b acquisition of PokerStars in 2014.

The AMF has also accused Baazov of engaging in a sophisticated kickback scheme in which he gave advance notice of major Amaya transactions to a number of individuals, including his brother Josh/Ofer Baazov. These individuals’ trading activity earned at least $1.5m in illegal profits, some of which allegedly ended up back in Baazov’s pocket.

The AMF reportedly plans to call around 50 witnesses to support its case against Baazov, including employees of Amaya’s investment banker Cannacord Genuity Securities. Ominously, the AMF also plans to summon an anonymous informant.

Complicating matters for Baazov is the fact that Quebec’s securities act requires that the trial be conducted in the French language. Many of the witnesses don’t speak French but Judge Leblond said preparations will be made to ensure real-time translation of the proceedings, as well as the selection of a fully bilingual judge to hear the case.

It remains to be seen how strong a case the AMF has against Baazov and his co-accused. Last September, Baazov’s lawyer Sophie Melchers got the AMF’s lead investigator to admit that he didn’t actually know the content of messages Baazov sent to his alleged conspirators because investigators had failed to seize it during their December 2014 raid on Amaya HQ.

Baazov resigned as Amaya’s CEO last August but remains the company’s largest shareholder. He has made several abortive attempts at acquiring the company and taking it private, but the last of these attempts fizzled out in December following a series of awkward media stories in which some of his financial backers pleaded ignorance of their involvement.

[omcik-blog]

New Post has been published on OmCik

New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/heres-why-the-trump-trade-is-not-over-yet/

Here's why the Trump trade is not over yet

Wall Street traders have notoriously short attention spans, and it’s showing in the latest round of whining, this time around the idea that the Donald Trump “reflation trade” is winding down.

It goes like this:

Traders now realize that the Trump agenda — the tax cuts, fewer regulations, the infrastructure spending — are 2018 events for earnings.

At current prices, this leaves stocks dangerously extended, because when you start trading on earnings that are one to two years out, you are in a very speculative market.

Here’s a typical example of this kind of concern, coming from Cannacord Genuity: “Should February fail to bring a market pullback, we believe the odds of a bigger correction this spring will mount as the valuation of cyclical stocks prematurely overshoots.”

The firm cited high investor complacency, a widening in credit spreads (particularly in Europe due to anti-globalism political developments), and another drop in China’s foreign currency reserves, despite various capital controls. They argue that “the ‘reflation trade’ is tiring” and are neutral on stocks.

Really? It doesn’t show up in the markets. A lot of people are confusing short-term trends with intermediate and longer-term trends.

It’s true there has been some modest weakness this month. Crude is down. Bond yields are down. This has put some pressure on energy and bank stocks.

But that doesn’t mean the reflation trade is over. Just look at the trend since the election:

State of the “reflation trade” since the election Fundamentals: improving Rates: up Inflation: moderate Stocks: record highs Leaders: tech, materials, industrials

This is a very definition of what the reflation trade looks like!

In stocks, the “reflation trade” sectors of financials, materials and industrials have been the clear leaders, with defensive and interest-rate sensitive sectors lagging:

Sectors since the election

Financials up 17% Materials up 11% Industrials up 9% Consumer Staples down 1% Utilities down 1%

This is reflation!

You can get more granular and look at specific stocks. Whether you’re talking infrastructure/construction, banks, aerospace/defense, or industrials like Caterpillar, the reflation trade is very evident:

Trump stocks since the election

United Rentals 66.4% U.S. Steel 61% JPMorgan Chase 24% General Dynamics 19% Union Pacific 18.8% Caterpillar 10%

So why is there so much whining? Because there have been long periods in the last two months when the reflation trade has just sat there and done nothing. How long? Bank stocks booked virtually all their gains (roughly 25 percent) in the 5 weeks after the election. They’ve done nothing since then.

Others, like industrials, have broken out since then but have fallen back.

But a consolidation is not a sell-off. There is no selling pressure in the market.

If the market is boring, it’s boring because it’s had such a strong move and never sells off. The last time we closed down 1 percent or more on the S&P 500 was October 11th of last year.

That’s 81 days since the S&P 500 had a down 1 percent session!

So where are we? Legions of traders are waiting for the market to drop 5 to 10 percent so they can buy more. Bullishness has been moderating in some surveys but still remains high.

Today, for example, Investors Intelligence reported that bulls among financial newsletter writers was at 62.7 percent, the highest since 2005, and that bears were down to a measly 16.7 percent, the lowest since July 2015

So until I see MUCH greater price declines and MUCH higher volume that indicates traders are looking to get out, I’m sticking in the camp with ISI’s technical analyst, who had this to say about the markets this morning: “The overwhelming body of our cross asset technical work continues to suggest that those uptrends remain intact and that recent countertrend declines to key support should be viewed as a compelling countertrend entry point to add to or establish new longs.”

[click2watch]

Canaccord Analysts Predict Bitcoin Price Return to $20K In 2021

Analysts at Canaccord Genuity expect to see a little bit of history repeating.

In a research note sent to the investment bank’s clients Thursday, analyst Michael Graham and associates Matthew Volpe and Alexander Frankiewicz predicted a return to bitcoin’s stratospheric late-2017 high over the next 24 months.

They wrote:

Now four months into 2019, we note for the third time the striking similarity in bitcoin’s price action between 2011-2015 and 2015-2019. While this simple pattern recognition has little fundamental basis, we note that bitcoin does operate on a four-year cycle of sorts, as the halving of bitcoin’s mining reward occurs approximately every four years. Bitcoin has started to form the spring 2019 bottom we began mentioning last year, although a close look at the chart suggests the recovery may be slightly ahead of itself. Looking ahead, if bitcoin were to continue following the same trend, the implication is a slow climb back toward its all-time high of ~$20,000, theoretically reaching that level in March 2021.

The analysts also noted more movement in the crypto markets, saying that about “7 million bitcoins have been shaken out of ‘Cold’ (not active for at least six months) status and have begun trading hands again.”

Graph courtesy of Canaccord.

Since no one knows what the future holds, the analysts overlaid two past performances over each other, noting that with each halving of the block reward, the bitcoin price rose dramatically. The next halving is expected in 2020.

The team also points to increased Wall Street interest in cryptocurrency as a catalyst for price growth, writing:

Perhaps most important is Fidelity’s continued push into the space. After the asset management giant launched Fidelity Digital Assets last October and a custody service in March, numerous reports suggest the launch of an institutional digital assets trading business within the next few weeks. Fidelity also released a survey of 411 US institutional investors which found that 40% are open to owning digital assets within the next five years. Another factor may be Grayscale’s “Drop Gold” advertising campaign, which hit airwaves recently and targets digitally native investor base that may prefer bitcoin to gold as a non-government store of value investment. Yet another could be several corporate crypto initiatives from the likes of Facebook, Nike, and others gaining attention in the media.

The Cannacord analysts’ bottom line: It’s looking good.

“In any event, bitcoin is so far one of the best-performing assets of 2019,” they wrote.

Bull image via Shutterstock

This news post is collected from CoinDesk

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The post Canaccord Analysts Predict Bitcoin Price Return to $20K In 2021 appeared first on Click 2 Watch.

More Details Here → https://click2.watch/canaccord-analysts-predict-bitcoin-price-return-to-20k-in-2021

[topinforma]

New Post has been published on Mortgage News

New Post has been published on http://bit.ly/2iNnnON

Here's why an old trading strategy is not working — yet

Lighten up on last year’s winners, buy the losers? Maybe not this year. There’s a very timeworn pattern that usually emerges in the first few trading days of the year: Investors rotate. They tend to buy the losing sectors last year and lighten up on the biggest gainers. This is the simplest kind of value trade you can make, and it makes some sense as a strategy for a portion of your portfolio.

It’s very early, but it’s interesting that this pattern is not playing out, at least not so far.

With the S&P 500 up 1.2 percent in 2017, here’s how some of the best performers last year are faring so far:

2016 Leaders in 2017

VanEck Gold Miners up 4.2%

VanEck Steel up 2.1%

SPDR Oil & Gas up 1.4%

SPDR Semiconductor up 1.1%

Not bad at all — they are all holding their own and even outperforming. Here’s how some of last year’s worst performers have done in the first two days of trading:

2016 Laggards in 2017

PowerShares Pharmaceuticals up 3.1%

iShares Biotech up 3.6%

Hm. The losers are also doing well! This may be speaking to the underlying trader mentality of the moment: I am bullish, but I don’t want to keep buying too much because the market is expensive. I really want the market to drop five to 10 percent so I can buy more.

That’s why a lot of traders, like Cannacord Genuity’s Tony Dwyer, are neutral on the market at the moment. Dwyer said in a note this morning that the key drivers are in place for a rally to continue — the improving global economy, a steeper yield curve, improved jobs/consumer confidence and the hopes for lower taxes/less regulation/and stimulus.

But the market is expensive, so he’s neutral now and “looking to buy any fear-based weakness as it develops.” He has a 2017 target of 2,340 on the S&P 500 but admits it “may be conservative.”

That’s why we keep getting these days where the markets struggle to advance, but the market never drops. Everyone is looking to get more aggressive as market works off its overbought condition, but no one wants to sell!

“I want to get bullish, but we’ve got to get lower prices,” Dwyer told me this morning. “We’ve got to rid of some of the excessive optimism.”

[mikemortgage]

Barrick, Newmont CEOs argue over size as analysts question benefits of megamerger

Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. executives used to claim that unlike other companies in the precious metals industry, they would never make acquisitions to grow their footprint and size.

But on Monday after proposing a nearly $18-billion takeover of Colorado-based Newmont Mining Corp. — a deal that if consummated would create the world’s largest gold producer, with an estimated $42-billion market cap, by a distance — Barrick chief executive Mark Bristow acknowledged that being large is critical.

“The point is we really want to attract generalists back into the industry,” Bristow said on the conference call with investors. “We want to be relevant and we think that $40 billion is relevant.”

Why this portfolio manager sees the return of gold’s glory days — and it’s not just megamerger mania

Barrick, Newmont CEOs trade barbs as merger battle heats up

Newmont to move forward with Goldcorp purchase, ignoring possible Barrick offer

That’s receiving less attention as Bristow stresses the main rationales for the combination are an estimated $7 billion in cost savings, and putting many of the best mines in the world under his management.

Still, he did say that turning two roughly $20-billion companies into a single $40-billion company also forms part of the rationale for the combination. A larger company is more likely to appeal to investors who have fled the beaten down, high-risk gold sector — which after years of poor returns is primarily a domain inhabited by specialist investors.

“As we stand here today, we’re much more relevant than we were independently,” said Bristow during the conference call Monday.

Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow.

He stopped short of saying bigger is always better, adding that it makes sense in this case because of his track record of “being disciplined” as a manager.

“Whilst we will be the biggest, more importantly, we would be the most valuable,” Bristow said.

Some analysts are skeptical of the estimated synergies and cost savings outlined by Barrick.

Carey MacRury, an analyst at Cannacord Genuity, wrote in a note to clients that the synergies as estimated by Bristow, including an estimated US$500 million in Nevada, where both companies operate mines, “appears high.”

“If there are significant synergies to be realized in Nevada, we believe that an operating (joint venture) between Newmont and Barrick should be able to provide most or all of the benefits without a full-blown acquisition,” MacRury wrote.

Gary Goldberg, chief executive of Newmont, is calling for such a joint venture, saying back in December he proposed a sit-down with Bristow to work out the details.

Goldberg told the Financial Post he is also thinking about size, albeit in different ways.

Newmont Mining CEO Gary Goldberg.

He questioned how Bristow, who only joined Barrick in January, after his company Randgold Resources Inc. was acquired for US$6 billion, could possibly manage all of Newmont’s portfolio in addition to Barrick’s newly enlarged portfolio.

“These guys just finished making an acquisition and are just starting the integration,” said Goldberg. “How in the world do they think they can do something on a much grander scale and think they can pull it off?”

Bristow and his team may have built mines in Africa — Randgold had four mines there — but Barrick or Newmont are far larger companies, each with many more mines scattered around the globe, he said in a phone interview from Hollywood, Florida where the BMO Metals and Mining Conference has put him in close contact with investors and other industry executives, including Bristow.

“It’s a different business — running a global business — when you can’t just jump on a plane and see all three of your sites in a day,” said Goldberg.

Meanwhile, his company is pursuing a $10-billion acquisition of Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc. Although it would vault his company ahead of Barrick in terms of gold production, and firmly into position as the largest and most valuable gold producer, Goldberg said it was not about size.

Instead, he said it was driven by his management’s ability to “unlock value” from Goldcorp’s assets and create a portfolio of assets in which 90 per cent of the production comes from the Americas or Australia — considered more politically stable jurisdictions than many parts of the world.

Barrick Gold Corp.’s Cortez Hills, Nev., open pit mine.

Whether Newmont combines with Goldcorp or Barrick is unlikely to resolve immediately: As it stands, Barrick has made an offer, which proposes a trade of 2.5694 Barrick shares for each Newmont share.

Now Newmont’s board must respond and if it rejects the offer, Barrick could appeal directly to Newmont’s shareholders. While that plays out, the proposed combination of Newmont and Goldcorp continues to move towards its April vote by the latter’s shareholders.

The three companies have significant overlap in their shareholders, so it may come down to views about management, estimates of cost synergies and what will attract generalist investors back into the precious metals space.

Size, however, plays a critical role in the process.

As Kerry Smith, an analyst with Haywood Securities Inc., noted Barrick and Newmont have flirted with a merger many times in the past, including as recently as 2014.

“Everyone agrees it makes infinite sense,” said Smith. ���The real question is whether Mark Bristow and his team can deliver their historical performance on an asset base this large and diverse.”

• Email: gfriedman@nationalpost.com | Twitter: GabeFriedz

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