TORONTO — Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. has signed an agreement to acquire Detour Gold Corp. in a deal that values the company at about $4.9 billion.

Under the agreement, Detour Gold shareholders will receive 0.4343 of a Kirkland Lake share for each Detour Gold share they hold.

The exchange ratio implies a value of $27.50 per Detour Gold share based on the closing price of Kirkland Lake Gold shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday, a 24 per cent premium to Detour Gold's closing price that day.

Detour Gold owns the Detour Lake open pit gold mine in northeastern Ontario.

Once the deal is completed, existing Kirkland Lake Gold shareholders will own about 73 per cent of the combined company, while Detour Gold shareholders will hold about 27 per cent.

The deal requires approval by a two-thirds majority vote by Detour Gold shareholders and a majority vote by Kirkland Lake Gold shareholders, in a addition to regulatory and court approvals.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2019.

Companies in this story: (TSX:KL, TSX:DGC)

The Canadian Press