BHP has approached the embattled Anglo American mining house with an all-scrip offer that would see the group’s most troublesome assets spun off.
Anglo American has been an increasingly vulnerable target for one of its larger rivals for the best part of two years, but the poison pills in its sprawling portfolio deterred predators. Now BHP has a plan for excising the most poisonous of those pills.
In confirming the BHP approach, Anglo said the offer would be preceded by separate demergers by Anglo of its entire shareholdings in Anglo American Platinum and Kumba Iron Ore to Anglo’s shareholders. It’s interesting that De Beers – which has suffered from the incursions of lab-grown diamonds in the US, which are a long-term structural threat, and weak demand from China, perhaps a more cyclical development – wasn’t also included in BHP’s demerger proposal. BHP exited the diamond industry more than a decade ago.
It also has a 25 million tonnes-a-year iron ore mine in Brazil with significant expansion potential after Anglo struck a deal with Vale earlier this year that would bring a 4.3 billion tonne Vale resource into the Minas-Rio project in exchange for an initial 15 per cent equity interest. For Mike Henry and his chairman, Ken MacKenzie, a successful takeover of Anglo would follow up on theand its South Australian copper resources completed last year, adding another big copper resource, whose scale would be difficult to develop organically.
Wanblad had the misfortune not only to succeed Mark Cutifani, the Australian who rescued Anglo from an earlier brush with disaster, but to take up the role just as the host of issues began to surface.Earlier this year, amid speculation that an activist shareholder might target Anglo, he said he was better placed to remake Anglo’s complex portfolio than anyone else. That might be an easier argument to make against an opportunistic activist than against BHP’s highly credentialed management.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
BHP’s clever plan for dealing with Anglo’s poison pillsBHP has approached the embattled Anglo American mining house with an all-scrip offer that would see the group’s most troublesome assets spun off.
Read more »
BHP’s Anglo American bid: Mike Henry breaks bread with Andrew Liveris at Beppi’s dinerThe place was nearly empty, so snippets of Henry and Liveris’ long, relaxed degustation rang through the room of the power diner.
Read more »
BHP weighs potential takeover of Anglo AmericanBHP, the world’s largest miner, is considering buying London-listed Anglo American, people with knowledge of the matter said, in what would rank as one of the year’s biggest deals.
Read more »
BHP weighs potential takeover of Anglo AmericanBHP, the world’s largest miner, is considering buying London-listed Anglo American, people with knowledge of the matter said, in what would rank as one of the year’s biggest deals.
Read more »
BHP weighs potential takeover of Anglo AmericanThe mining giant has recently been evaluating the possibility of a bid for the London-listed group, where shares have fallen 12 per cent over the last year.
Read more »
BHP weighs potential takeover of Anglo AmericanBHP, the world’s largest miner, is considering buying London-listed Anglo American, people with knowledge of the matter said, in what would rank as one of the year’s biggest deals.
Read more »