It was a disappointing month for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) in December.
After a positive start, the benchmark index faded as the month when on and ended up notably lower than where it started it.
Over the period, the ASX 200 index lost 3.3% of its value to finish the month and year at 8,159.1 points.
Thankfully, not all shares fell with the market. Here's why these were the best ASX 200 shares to own in December:
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De Grey Mining Limited (ASX: DEG)
The De Grey Mining share price was the best performer on the ASX 200 with a gain of 16% in December. This was driven by news that the gold developer has agreed to be acquired by industry giant Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST). The two parties agreed a deal that would see De Grey Mining shareholders receive 0.119 new Northern Star shares for each share held. This represented an implied offer price of $2.08 per share (a 36.8% premium) and a total equity value for De Grey of approximately $5 billion on a fully diluted basis. Commenting on the deal, Northern Star's managing director and CEO, Stuart Tonkin, said: "The acquisition of De Grey is strongly aligned with Northern Star's strategy and contributes to our purpose of generating superior returns for shareholders. De Grey's Hemi development project will deliver a low-cost, long-life and large-scale gold mine in the Tier-1 jurisdiction of Western Australia, enhancing the quality of Northern Star's asset portfolio to generate cash earnings."
Insignia Financial Ltd (ASX: IFL)
The Insignia Financial share price wasn't far behind with a gain of 13.1%. Investors were buying the financial services company's shares after revealed that it received a non-binding takeover offer from Bain Capital. The private equity firm tabled a $4.00 cash per share proposal, which represented a 17.6% premium and valued the company at approximately $2.68 billion. Since then, the Insignia Financial board has rejected the offer on the belief that it "does not adequately represent fair value for IFL shareholders in the context of a change of control transaction and that it is not in the best interests of IFL shareholders to engage with Bain Capital in relation to the Indicative Proposal."
Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT)
The Beach Energy share price was on form and climbed 13% in December. This appears to have been driven by the ASX 200 energy company's Waitsia Stage 2 project update. That update revealed that the key milestone of mechanical completion has now been achieved. This went down well with analysts at Ord Minnett. The broker believes that risks at Waitsia have been significantly reduced following the update. In addition, Ord Minnett is positive on the energy producer's free cash flow outlook and expects it to support the payment of significantly larger than expected dividends in FY 2025 and FY 2026.
Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR)
The Gold Road Resources share price rose 9.6% over the month. This was despite there being no market sensitive news out of the ASX 200 gold miner during the month. However, it is worth highlighting that Gold Road Resources owns almost 18% of De Grey Mining. As a result, it stands to benefit greatly from Northern Star's proposed takeover.
