HONG KONG (S&P Global Ratings) June 22, 2020--S&P Global Ratings said today that Shandong Gold Group Co. Ltd. (SDG; BBB-/Stable/--) has adequate rating buffer for the proposed acquisition of Ghana-focused Cardinal Resources Ltd. We believe the purchase is in line with SDG's strategy of internationalization and production growth, and expect the company to maintain a prudent approach toward acquisitions over the next two years. Given the moderate size of the acquisition, we anticipate SDG's EBITDA interest coverage will stay well above 2.0x over the period, even if it fully funds the transaction with debt. Cardinal will likely add mined gold output of 8.9 tons or 18% of SDG's output in 2019 when its Namdini project commences operations in mid-2022. We
