Bowmans represented the underwriters, including Citigroup, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Rand Merchant Bank, as joint global coordinators on the USD 1 billion rights offering by Sibanye Gold Limited.  The rights offering was made on an SEC-registered basis, as well as in a public offering in South Africa.  This is the third-largest rights issue ever by a South African company and the largest ever acquisition-related capital raise in South Africa.

Bowmans also represented the initial purchasers, led by Citigroup, HSBC and Barclays, as global coordinators on Sibanye’s USD 1.05 billion senior notes offering.  The senior notes were issued by Sibanye’s subsidiary Stillwater Mining Company, and guaranteed by Sibanye Gold Limited and certain other of its subsidiaries.  This is the largest ever South African corporate bond debut, as well as the largest ever private-sector corporate bond debut in Africa.

The net proceeds of the rights offering and the senior notes offering will be used to refinance a bridge facility drawn to fund Sibanye’s acquisition of Stillwater Mining Company, a US-based platinum group metals (PGM) producer.

Sibanye is an independent, South African domiciled mining group, which currently owns and operates gold and uranium operations and projects throughout the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa, as well as PGM operations and projects in the J-M Reef in the United States, the Bushveld Igneous Complex in South Africa and the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe. 

According to publicly available corporate information, Sibanye is the largest producer of gold in South Africa and is a top ten global producer of gold, and Sibanye’s PGM operations (which were acquired during 2016 and 2017), taken together, are the fourth largest producer of PGMs in the world, based on annual production at such operations in 2016. 

Sibanye’s shares are listed on the JSE in South Africa, and its ADSs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Bowmans team was led by partners Ezra Davids, Ryan Wessels and Casper van Heerden, and comprised associates Sibonelo Mduli, Mohammed Saib and Gabriela Andonova and candidate attorney, Katherine McLean.