By Melanie Burton and Roshan Thomas
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -BHP on Monday pulled back from a last-ditch effort to buy Anglo American and bolster its dominance in copper, just two weeks before shareholders at Anglo and Canada’s Teck Resources were set to vote on a $60 billion tie-up.
BHP said it was no longer pursuing a potential combination with Anglo after preliminary discussions with Anglo’s board, in a release to Australia’s securities exchange after news broke of the talks late on Sunday.
The world’s biggest listed miner said it still believes a tie-up would have offered “strong strategic merits” and created value for stakeholders, but added that it remains confident in the strength of its own organic growth strategy.
“It’s a last throw of the dice for BHP,” said portfolio manager Andy Forster at Argo Investments in Sydney, which holds BHP shares.
“I’m a bit surprised that, given the relative performance that they thought they’re in a position to come back and do another deal and extract value for shareholders.”
Anglo’s shares have rallied around 16% this year, while BHP’s have climbed 2%. Shares of the mining major rose 0.4% on Monday.
BHP had been looking at Anglo to build up its copper business, as the metal is essential to the energy transition. The Australian miner is already the world’s biggest copper producer but risks losing that crown in the years ahead without significant new projects.
Its decision to walk away comes ahead of votes by Teck and Anglo shareholders set for December 9 to create Anglo Teck, a copper giant with big development projects in Chile and Peru.
“There’s probably a handful of times when assets like this are up for sale, so BHP may as well assess if the option is open. But it does look a little messy,” said Kaan Peker, analyst with RBC in Sydney.
Under UK securities rules, BHP’s statement means it cannot make another bid for Anglo for six months.
BHP’S ORGANIC GROWTH
After Anglo last year rebuffed three approaches from BHP, the Melbourne-headquartered miner instead doubled down on a series of smaller projects, including in Argentina, where it said it saw better value.
As recently as August, CEO Mike Henry played down any chance of another bid for Anglo.
“Frankly in current markets, it’s hard to see the right combination of the commodities that we like, the asset quality that we like, at a price where we can still unlock attractive value for BHP shareholders,” Henry said on a results call.
One investor said BHP’s focus on capital discipline under former chairman Ken MacKenzie was the main reason the company did not pay more for Anglo, which had led to some reflection within management. The latest approach came under BHP’s new chair, Ross McEwan.
OTTAWA WANTS NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
The Anglo Teck deal still needs approval under the Investment Canada Act.
While the merged company will be headquartered in Canada, Ottawa wants Anglo American to redomicile – that is, change its country of incorporation – to Canada, a shift that Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad has firmly ruled out.
Anglo, which had no immediate comment, has worked hard to improve its share price since it rebuffed BHP’s final $49 billion offer in May last year.
It has exited its South African platinum unit, and unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan that Wanblad said would deliver stronger returns for shareholders, despite its failure to offload its Australian coal assets.
(Reporting by Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru, Melanie Burton in Melbourne, Clara Denina in London and Divya Rajagopal in Toronto; Additional reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Editing by Diane Craft and Sonali Paul)
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