

Gold Fields Ltd entered into talks to acquire Gold Road Resources Ltd., hours after the Australian company’s shares were suspended from trading in Sydney.
In March, Johannesburg-based Gold Fields announced that Gold Road had rejected a non-binding acquisition proposal. At that time, Gold Road said the takeover approach, valuing the Perth-based miner at A$3.3 billion ($2.1 billion), was extremely disappointing and undervalued the company. Gold Road’s shares have since climbed more than 20%.
Gold Fields, which co-owns the Gruyere mine in Western Australia with Gold Road, said on Friday that it’s in active discussions with Gold Road. There was no certainty that a deal would be concluded, it added. Gold Fields’ shares fell as much as 6.4%.
Earlier on Friday, Gold Road asked for its shares to be suspended, citing ‘media speculation regarding a potential change of control transaction.’ The suspension will be lifted when the market opens on May 6, unless the company announces otherwise by then.