Endeavour said the London listing marked the start of the next phase of the company’s evolution, as it will give it access to a deeper pool of capital to help it consolidate its recent steep growth.
“Over the past few years, we have built a resilient business, with a high-quality asset base made up of low cost, long-mine life assets, attractive development projects and additional exploration potential,” president and chief executive Sébastien de Montessus, said in the statement.
Shares in the company opened at 1,786.27 pounds and were trading at 1,730 pound by 11:00 am GMT.
The company said it was not intending to raise capital in conjunction with its new listing.
The London exchange lost its top gold company in 2019, when Randgold Resources delisted after being acquired by Barrick Gold.
Endeavour has said it aims at filling the gap left by Randgold, which had a similar portfolio in in West Africa, which is the world’s second-largest gold producing region.
Among top dogs
With a market capitalization of C$7.63 billion (about $6.3bn), the miner is now amongst the most valuable precious metals companies currently listed on the LSE. These include Russian duo Polyus (LON: PLZL) and Polymetal International (LON: POLY), Mexico-focused Fresnillo (LON: FRES) and fellow Canadian miner Yamana Gold (LON: AUY), all of whom have a market value of more than $4.5bn.
Endeavour, which is also one of the world’s top 10 gold miners thanks to the acquisition of Teranga Gold in November, is targeting shareholder distributions of at least $500 million through 2023, payable semi-annually.
