Sibanye Gold pays down debt

Sibanye Gold, South Africa’s second-biggest gold producer, is repaying some loans to pay a dividend at the end of the year. Sibanye said yesterday that it had repaid R570 million of a revolving credit facility and a term loan. The R6 billion of facilities will reduce to R5bn on February 18, 2014, company filings show. Under a revolving facility, money repaid can be borrowed again. “In order to pay a dividend at year-end we’ve got to pay down R500m debt,” spokesman James Wellsted said. Sibanye was spun off from Gold Fields last month and comprises the Kloof-Driefontein Complex, Africa’s largest gold operation, and the Beatrix mine. Sibanye, which entered the loan agreements last November, is using the funds to refinance debt remaining after the spin-off and fund capital spending. Wellsted said the company was paying 3 percentage points, above the Johannesburg interbank agreed rate (Jibar) on both the loans for the 12 months starting February 18. For the six months after that, the rate would increase to 3.5 percentage points above Jibar. “We are obviously trying to renegotiate that with the banks. We are in a quite cash-generative position.” The shares gained 3.69 percent to R12.94. – Bloomberg