Coeur Announces Acquisition of New Gold to Create a New, All North American Senior Precious Metals Producer

On November 3, 2025, Coeur Mining, Inc. and New Gold Inc. announced a definitive agreement for Coeur to acquire all outstanding shares of New Gold. The transaction will be all-stock, with New Gold shareholders receiving 0.4959 of a Coeur common share for each New Gold share they own.

The offer implies a value of $8.51 per New Gold share, representing a total equity value of approximately $7.0 billion. The company states this represents a 16% premium, which would be based on a historical volume-weighted average price (VWAP), not the most recent closing price. Upon completion, existing Coeur and New Gold shareholders will own approximately 62% and 38% of the combined company, respectively.

The combined entity is projected to have a market capitalization of approximately $20 billion and is positioned as a leading North American-focused senior precious metals producer. Pro-forma 2026 guidance for the new company includes production of 1.25 million gold equivalent ounces, an estimated EBITDA of $3.0 billion, and free cash flow of $2.0 billion.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including shareholder approvals from both companies, court approval, and regulatory approvals. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

This news is transformative for New Gold, as it marks the end of its existence as a standalone company. However, the impact is decidedly negative due to the valuation and timing. The implied offer price of $8.51 per share represents a 17.6% discount to New Gold's last closing price of $10.33 on October 31, 2025.

This deal comes just five days after New Gold reported record-breaking third-quarter 2025 results and held an exceptionally bullish conference call. The historical news progression shows a company successfully executing a remarkable turnaround:

• Early 2025: New Gold was in a transitional phase, refinancing debt, strengthening its leadership team, and outlining a three-year growth plan. Q1 results were weak, with high All-in Sustaining Costs (AISC) of $1,727/oz.
• Mid-2025: The company began delivering on its strategy. It consolidated 100% ownership of the New Afton mine, a key value-accretive move. Q2 results showed significant improvement, with AISC dropping to $1,393/oz and the company generating $63 million in free cash flow.
• September 2025: The company announced a major exploration success at New Afton's K-Zone, more than doubling the mineralized system's known extent. This was a massive catalyst, suggesting significant mine life extension potential and sending the stock from the low $8s to over $10.
• October 28, 2025 (Q3 Results): The turnaround was confirmed with a blowout quarter: record gold production (115,213 oz), record free cash flow ($205 million), and AISC slashed to an impressive $966/oz. The company repaid $260 million in debt, including a $150 million credit facility draw, a full quarter ahead of schedule.
• October 29, 2025 (Earnings Call): Management painted a very bright future, projecting significant free cash flow growth, beating 2025 projections, and discussing the potential for K-Zone to extend the New Afton mine life to 2040 or beyond. They explicitly stated they were evaluating capital return options for shareholders.

The decision to sell the company at a discount to its market price, immediately after confirming the success of its turnaround and teasing massive exploration upside, is baffling and detrimental to shareholders. The board has accepted an offer that does not reflect the market's recent re-rating of the stock based on these positive developments. It effectively caps the upside and forces shareholders to accept a valuation that appears to ignore the full potential of the K-Zone discovery and the de-risked operational profile.

For shareholders who bought into the turnaround story, this deal crystallizes a value far below the company's demonstrated potential. The claim of a 16% "premium" is misleading, as it is calculated from a stale reference price of approximately $7.34, a level the stock left behind weeks ago on fundamental news.

New Gold Inc. is a Canadian-based intermediate gold mining company with a portfolio of two core producing assets in Canada: the Rainy River mine in Ontario and the New Afton gold-copper mine in British Columbia. - Rainy River Mine: A gold-silver open pit and underground mine. The operation has recently seen a significant performance improvement by accessing higher-grade open pit ore and commencing production from the new underground portion. - New Afton Mine: A gold-copper block-cave mine. The mine is transitioning from the nearly depleted B3 cave to the new C-Zone, which is expected to ramp up to full production in 2026. The flagship development project is now the K-Zone, a major discovery below the existing workings that has shown the potential to significantly extend the mine's life with high-grade copper-gold mineralization.