Aug 8 (Reuters) – BHP Group (BHP.AX) was rebuffed in its A$8.34 billion ($5.8 billion) takeover bid for OZ Minerals (OZL.AX) on Monday, in a setback as it pushes to secure copper and nickel assets for a shift into clean energy and the electric vehicles (EVs) market.
Australia’s OZ Minerals said the A$25 per share unsolicited, conditional and non-binding indicative offer undervalued the nickel and copper miner and was “opportunistic” as it comes when copper prices and its stock price have fallen from recent peaks.
OZ is mining minerals that are in strong demand particularly for “global electrification and decarbonisation” and “we do not consider the proposal from BHP sufficiently recognises these attributes”, OZ Chief Executive Andrew Cole said.
BHP’s offer marked a 32% premium to the closing price of OZ shares on Friday, when the latter had a market capitalisation of A$6.3 billion, according to Refinitiv Eikon. OZ shares surged 34.1% to A$25.55, slightly above the offer price, after details of the deal and its rejection were made public on Monday, with some analysts saying the miner could now be “in play” from an M&A perspective.
For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/oz-minerals-rejects-bhps-58-bln-nickel-copper-play-undervalued-2022-08-07/