Canadian Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold producer, has launched a hostile takeover bid for the US company Newmont Mining.

The bid has a value of almost 18 billion dollars and consists entirely of shares. The shareholders of Barrick then get almost 56 percent of the merged company and the shareholders of Newmont the rest. According to Barrick, the combination can lead to more than $ 7 billion in financial benefits, including the merging of activities in Nevada.

In January it was announced that Newmont and the Canadian Goldcorp would like to merge into a $ 10 billion deal in order to better compete with Barrick. If the acquisition of Newmont by Barrick succeeds then this deal is probably canceled.

Last year, Barrick took over his smaller rival Randgold in a billion-dollar deal. In the past there was more frequent rapprochement between Barrick and Newmont, but these negotiations led to nothing. In 2014, the last talk was between the companies about a merger.