Gold miners Acacia Mining and Barrick Gold have ended their two-month standoff, announcing on Friday that they have agreed on a takeover offer of 232p a share, valuing the London-listed company at about £343-million.

Minority shareholders in Barrick will now receive 0.168 new Barrick shares for each share held.

The new offer is a premium of 53.5% to the closing price of 155p a share on May 20, the day prior to the first announcement of a possible offer. The bid is also a premium of 24.2% to the closing price of Acacia of 187p a share on Thursday.

Barrick, which owns 63.9% of Acacia, previously tried to buy minority shareholders in its troubled Africa unit at no premium, with a bid of 193p a share, but Acacia insisted that it is worth 271p a share.

With the new offer, it appears that the parties have met each other halfway. Acacia’s stock shot up 19% to 222p a share in London on Friday morning.

The companies also announced that Barrick would sell Acacia’s exploration properties over the next two years, with net proceeds to be paid to Acacia shareholders.

Acacia said on Friday that the new offer was not only considered fair, but would also allow Barrick to finalise the terms of a settlement agreement with the government of Tanzania.

“It is also an attractive solution for the company’s other key stakeholders, as it may enable Barrick to finalise the terms of a settlement with the government of Tanzania, thereby resolving the long-running disputes and potentially allowing the Acacia group’s Tanzanian business, and its employees in Tanzania, who have provided exceptional and unstinting support in continuing operations in country, to return to a normalised operating environment,” a statement noted.

Acacia is facing significant trouble in Tanzania, where an export ban on metallic mineral concentrates in March 2017 had forced the miner to put Bulyanhulu mine on reduced operations. In addition, there are numerous ongoing unresolved disputes between the Tanzania government and Acacia, including disputes in relation to tax, environmental and criminal matters. Acacia was handed a $190-billion tax bill in Tanzania, which had been reduced to $300-million under a 2017 agreement.

As majority shareholder, Barrick had taken charge of negotiations with the government of Tanzania to reach a resolution on various disputes. Acacia was not permitted to participate in discussions and was not involved in negotiating terms.

In May, discussions between Barrick and the government advanced to a point where draft transaction documents for a possible settlement had been extensively negotiated and initialled by the government.

The key principle of the draft agreement is that the government and Acacia’s Tanzanian mine operating subsidiaries will share the economic benefits derived from the mines on a 50:50 basis, based on the life-of-mine plans. The documents also provide for a $300-million payment by the Acacia group for the full, final and comprehensive settlement of all existing disputes between the government and the mining company.

Earlier this week, the North Mara mine had been issued no export letter and a prohibition notice, ordering it to stop using the tailings storage facility. This forced the mine to stop gold production.

“Considering the impending loss of the ability of Acacia to produce gold and operate the mine at North Mara, the Acacia group’s cash flow from operations will be adversely impacted and the Acacia group will be required to meet its on-going working capital requirements and other financial obligations from its existing cash balance. This position is not sustainable and the liquidity of the company will be constrained in the absence of a resolution,” the Acacia statement said.

It is hoped that with the buyout, Barrick would be able to preserve the value of Acacia’s assets.