Glass Lewis Recommends New Gold Shareholders Vote "FOR" the Plan of Arrangement with Coeur Mining
Proxy Giants Give Green Light to Merger as New Gold Hits Operational Zenith
The most recent news release (January 19, 2026) confirms that Glass, Lewis & Co. has joined Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) in recommending that New Gold (NGD) shareholders vote "FOR" the plan of arrangement with Coeur Mining (CDE). This follows a string of positive developments, including NGD successfully meeting its 2025 production guidance (353,772 oz gold, 50.1M lbs copper) and generating a record $532 million in free cash flow for the full year. The merger, structured as an all-stock transaction with a 0.4959 exchange ratio, is scheduled for a shareholder vote on January 27, 2026.
The recommendation from both major proxy advisory firms (Glass Lewis and ISS) essentially guarantees the passage of the merger, barring a black swan event. Materially, this shifts the investment thesis from an independent turnaround story to a merger-arbitrage and pro-forma valuation play. - Operational Validation: The achievement of 2025 guidance validates management's Technical Reports from early 2025. Rainy River has transitioned into a cash-generating engine ($183M FCF in Q3 2025 alone). - Merger Certainty: With Competition Act approval already received (Dec 2025) and proxy support secured, the "deal risk" is now minimal. - Valuation Shift: NGD shareholders will own 38% of a $20B+ entity. However, a critical view notes that NGD is being acquired just as its "free cash flow inflection point" has fully materialized, potentially allowing Coeur to capture the bulk of the C-Zone and K-Zone upside.
New Gold is an intermediate producer with two primary Canadian assets: - New Afton (BC): An underground block cave mine. The "C-Zone" is the current growth driver, while the "K-Zone" exploration has more than doubled the known mineralized system, potentially extending mine life deep into the 2040s. - Rainy River (Ontario): An open-pit and underground mine. After years of struggles, it achieved record production and FCF in 2025 following access to higher-grade Phase 4 ore.