Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, will increase the size of a share sale announced yesterday by 17 percent to $3.5 billion in response to investor demand. The company will sell 94.8 million common shares for $36.95 apiece, up from the 81.2 million shares announced yesterday, Toronto-based Barrick said in a statement. Leading underwriters RBC Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Scotia Capital Inc. have an option to increase the sale to $4 billion within 30 days. Barrick is raising funds to eliminate fixed-price contracts after eight years of successive gold-price increases. As of Sept. 7, the company had contracts for 9.5 million ounces of gold and will take a $5.6 billion charge in the third quarter to eliminate some of the hedges, Barrick said yesterday. Barrick fell C$2.08, or 4.9 percent, to C$40.37 at 10:19 a.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. The shares gained 37 percent in the 12 months through yesterday.

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