BHP makes new approach to buy Anglo, adding twist to merger saga

BHP Group (ASX: BHP) has made another approach to buy Anglo American (LON: AAL) despite the London-listed miner’s proposed merger with Canada’s Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A/TECK.B), according to reports.On Sunday, Bloomberg News reported that BHP, the world’s largest mining company, has reignited its interest in buying Anglo despite walking away from a potential deal last year and stating many times that it would not re-enter the frame again. That report was later followed up by Reuters.BHP’s approach comes just less than three weeks before shareholders of Anglo and Teck are scheduled to vote on the $53 billion merger announced in September. Should it go through, that would make it the largest business combination in the mining industry in over a decade, and the second-largest ever.Bloomberg, citing its sources, said that deliberations between BHP and Anglo are now ongoing, though there is no certainty that a deal will eventually be struck. Both parties declined to respond to Bloomberg and Reuters’ requests to comment.Anglo, with a large portfolio of copper assets, has long been viewed by those within the industry as a takeover target. However, prospective buyers had largely been put off by the company’s mix of other relatively niche assets such as diamonds and platinum.BHP had already attempted to buy Anglo last year but eventually walked away from a $49 billion deal over disagreements over its structure, as it required the smaller miner to break itself up first by spinning off majority stakes in the aforementioned niche assets in South Africa.This time, however, according to Bloomberg sources, BHP’s latest proposal is structured in a simpler and more straightforward way than last year.Since the talks ended, Anglo’s stock performance has significantly outpaced that of BHP, which could make it more difficult to reach any agreement on a valuation. Anglo’s market capitalization in London, is now about $41.8 billion, while BHP’s is around $132.2 billion, according to LSEG data.A renewed interest by BHP adds a new twist to a long-drawn-out saga involving Anglo, whose combination with Teck could potentially create an even bigger copper mining complex than the Escondida in Chile. If the BHP-Anglo deal had gone ahead last year, the combined entity would have been the world’s largest copper producer, with a total annual production of nearly 2 million tonnes.Report of BHP’s fresh bid comes amid doubts surrounding the Anglo-Teck deal after reports that the Canadian government had placed pressure on certain conditions to be met, specifically stronger commitments to executive and management jobs at its proposed Vancouver headquarters.Shareholders of both companies are set to vote on Dec. 9, and the deal still needs the approval of regulators in the US, Canada and China.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com