Picture: AFP PHOTO/OZAN KOSE
Picture: AFP PHOTO/OZAN KOSE

GOLD Fields fell the most in a month after raising R2.3bn from shareholders to pay down debt.

The stock declined 10% to R58.33 at 12.04pm on the JSE, the most since February 18, after the company sold 38.9-million new shares at R59.50 each, a 6% discount to the 30-day average.

Gold Fields would use the money to pay down a revolving credit facility and reduce its net debt to 1.2 times earnings from 1.4 times at December 31, it said on Friday. The company used the facility to buy back $148m of a $1bn bond bearing 4.875% interest earlier this year.

The company’s stock climbed 54% this year before Friday to R65.05 as gold rose 19% and it made progress in developing its South Deep mine, which holds most of its reserves.

Bloomberg