Barrick names former Randgold executive Sebastiaan Bock as CEO of its rest of world division

Barrick Mining Corp. ABX-T has named Sebastiaan Bock as chief executive officer, rest of world, a newly created position within the company that will see him run its Africa, Middle East, Latin America, and Asia Pacific mines.

Toronto-based Barrick announced the appointment of Mr. Bock, a former Randgold Resources Ltd. executive, effective immediately as it prepares for a fundamental restructuring of the company. Later this year, the Canadian miner intends to launch an initial public offering of a minority share in its core North American operations.

Mr. Bock joined Barrick in 2019 as chief financial officer, Africa and Middle East, after it acquired his previous employer, Randgold Resources, where he headed up corporate and operations finance.

In 2022, he was appointed chief operating officer for Africa and Middle East after the retirement of Willem Jacobs.

Last year, Mr. Bock was part of a team that solved a long-running dispute in Mali that had seen Barrick’s production idled for an extended period of time.

Barrick CEO Mark Hill in a release praised him for his experience across operations, finance, strategic planning, and risk management.

“Seb is the ideal person to grow our rest of world business,” he said.

Mr. Bock is one of the last remaining former Randgold executives to survive a leadership shakeup at Barrick over the past 12 months.

Last September, the company severed ties with Randgold founder Mark Bristow who was Barrick’s CEO for more than six years. In January, Barrick also parted ways with chief financial officer Graham Shuttleworth, another former long-serving Randgold executive.

Mr. Hill took over as CEO from Mr. Bristow on an interim basis before being made permanent in February. He will soon be changing jobs again. On Monday, Barrick named Mr. Hill as CEO of its upcoming North American spin-out.

The unit comprises its 61.5-per-cent stake in Nevada Gold Mines, and its 60-per-cent stake in the Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic.

Barrick has long traded at a discount to peers such as Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. AEM-T That’s largely because of its exposure to risky jurisdictions in Africa, the Middle East and Pakistan. By creating an investment that holds only its lower-risk North American operations, Barrick is hoping to achieve a “rerate” in its stock.

But not all of Barrick’s big shareholders are on board with the plan.

Benoit Gervais, portfolio manager at Mackenzie Investments, Barrick’s 11th-largest shareholder, said that spinning out a piece of the most valuable part of the business makes little sense. A far better idea, he added, would be to spin out the segments that are actively weighing on its valuation, namely its rest of world portfolio, which includes its mines in Mali, and Papua New Guinea.

“Let’s spin out everything else that’s not working, bring in new management, and we surface value that way,” Mr. Gervais said. “We’ll dilute ourselves a little bit at first, but over time, operational success will surface more value than the dilution we incurred. That’s the logic I could go for.”

Mr. Gervais blames the decision to forge ahead on the North American spin-out on Barrick chairman John Thornton, who has long been responsible for the miner’s strategic decisions.

A former investment banker with Goldman Sachs, Mr. Thornton joined Barrick as a director in 2012 at the behest of company founder Peter Munk. In 2014, he was promoted to executive chairman and held that position until 2024, when he transitioned to chair.

“He has been at the company for a very long time, and the company has underperformed for an equally long time,” Mr. Gervais said.

“How many shots do you have at this before you turn it over to somebody else?”

Both Barrick and Mr. Thornton declined comment.

The miner’s shares nosedived earlier in the week after it announced a new pact around its Nevada Gold Mines joint venture with Denver-based Newmont Corp.

The Denver-based mining company agreed to pay Barrick US$1.95-billion in cash in a deal that will see Barrick’s Fourmile gold discovery brought into the JV. Some analysts had expected Barrick to receive a significantly higher payout from Newmont owing to the value they ascribe to Fourmile. Barrick has characterized Fourmile as “one of the century’s greatest gold discoveries.”

The true value of the deal is US$4-billion, which factors in Newmont dropping its disputes and litigation around the JV, Mr. Hill said in a conference call on Monday. As part of the reworked pact, Newmont also gave its consent to Barrick to proceed with its spinout plans, which removes a potential risk hanging over the transaction.