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Botswana Vows to Protect Interests in Potential BHP-Anglo Deal – by Mbongeni Mguni (Bloomberg News – May 9, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi vowed to protect the country’s interests, including its 15% stake in diamond giant De Beers, should BHP Group Ltd. acquire Anglo American Plc.

Anglo, which rejected a BHP proposal valuing the mining company at about $39 billion, owns the other 85% of De Beers. Under the proposed deal, BHP — once a major diamond producer itself — said that De Beers would be put on a strategic review. Anglo, the only major miner with a big diamond business, has already been reviewing the future of units including De Beers.

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South African Unions Urge Anglo Shareholders To Reject BHP Bid – by Antony Sguazzin (Bloomberg News – May 7, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — South Africa’s biggest labor union federation urged local shareholders, including the powerful Public Investment Corp., to oppose BHP Group Ltd.’s bid to buy Anglo American Plc. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, which includes the National Union of Mineworkers among its members, said a deal wouldn’t be in the national interest. South African shareholders hold about 26% of Anglo, with the PIC owning 8.4%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

BHP’s proposal to acquire Anglo on April 25 raised the ire of some members of South Africa’s government, including Mines Minister Gwede Mantashe. The Australian company responded by deploying a senior team including its chief executive officer to South Africa to win over government officials, regulators and local Anglo shareholders.

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What’s Anglo Worth? For Now It’s Less than the Sum of Its Parts – by Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – May 2, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — As BHP Group considers its next move, there’s one big question facing the mining world’s bankers, analysts and executives at rival producers: What’s Anglo American Plc actually worth? Anglo’s shares are trading about 8% above the price implied by BHP’s initial proposal, which was swiftly and firmly rejected, and Bloomberg reported on the weekend that the larger firm was considering an improved offer.

But how high can BHP go? The world’s biggest miner needs to thread the needle with an offer that can win over Anglo investors while maintaining the support of its own shareholders — especially given the company’s history of disastrous dealmaking.

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Mike Henry, the Canadian boss of mining giant BHP, faces a reputational make-or-break takeover attempt – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – May 3, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Mike Henry’s long career at BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, did not rock the resources world. In his various roles – he has been CEO since 2020 – he was competent, capable and cautious, according to former employees and executives at rival companies, making him more evolutionary than revolutionary.

Today, Mr. Henry seems to be breaking form to unleash a potential revolution at BHP. A leak last week forced the company to reveal a takeover proposal for rival Anglo American that implied a value of US$39-billion. Anglo promptly rejected the bid, which can now be declared hostile, as undervalued, opportunistic and complicated.

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BHP Woos South Africa in Pursuit of $39 Billion Anglo Takeover – by William Clowes, Clara Ferreira Marques and Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – May 1, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — BHP Group Ltd. has deployed a senior team including its chief executive officer to South Africa as the world’s largest miner ramps up efforts to win over government officials, regulators and local shareholders, all of whom could yet determine the outcome of its proposed tie-up with rival Anglo American Plc.

The executives have already begun conversations with key stakeholders, focusing on explaining the detail of the existing $39 billion proposal — currently back on the drawing board after it was rapidly rejected by its target — and its benefits, according to people familiar with the matter. Melbourne-based CEO Mike Henry has flown to South Africa and was in the country on Thursday, the people said.

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Glencore studying an approach for Anglo American, sources say – by Clara Denina, Pratima Desai and Felix Njini (Reuters – May 2, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

Commodities group Glencore (LON: GLEN) is studying an approach for Anglo American (LON: AAL) two sources said, a development that could spark a bidding war for the 107-year old mining company.

Glencore has not yet approached Anglo, one of the sources said. The discussions are internal and preliminary at this stage and may not result in an approach, the source added. “We do not comment on market rumour or speculation,” a Glencore spokesperson said.

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OPINION: Copper is the new oil and Big Mining sees the metal as its lifeblood – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – April 27, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Australia’s BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, considered a bid for smaller player Anglo American about five years ago. BHP coveted only Anglo’s copper, and was put off by the prospect of dismantling a highly complex company to nail the prize. So it passed.

Big mistake. Copper since then has become the new oil, and no big mining house can prosper without the metal considered critical to the transition to a low-carbon future. Everyone wants copper and the price is soaring as supply proves incapable of meeting demand.

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Copper smelters in China wary of BHP-Anglo tie-up – by Siyi Liu, Julian Luk, Mai Nguyen and Melanie Burton (Reuters – April 30, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

Chinese smelters, the world’s biggest buyers of mined copper, are concerned they will lose power to negotiate prices if BHP Group, known locally as “the big miner”, succeeds in its bid for rival Anglo American.

BHP, the world’s largest listed mining group, is fine-tuning an offer that could make it the biggest producer of copper, a metal in high demand as the world seeks to shift towards electric vehicles and a lower carbon economy.The proposed takeover would give BHP control of roughly 10% of global mined supplies, surpassing Chile’s Codelco and Freeport-McMoRan.

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BHP’s $39 Billion Copper Play Was Years in the Making – by Thomas Biesheuvel, Dinesh Nair and Paul-Alain Hunt (Bloomberg News – April 27, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — When Mike Henry took over as chief executive officer of BHP Group in 2020, the world’s biggest mining company had lost its swagger. Bruised by a series of painful missteps and a run-in with activist Elliott Investment Management, the Anglo-Australian behemoth was kicking crucial decisions down the road, and increasingly aware that its reliance on fossil-fuel-heavy commodities could start turning investors away.

Detail-focused and exacting, Henry didn’t fit the stereotype of the hard-charging and charismatic mining executive that the industry so often turned to for its leaders. But he moved quickly and methodically, and within 20 months BHP had announced the most dramatic shakeup since its creation two decades earlier.

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Anglo American rejects “opportunistic” $39bn takeover bid from BHP – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 26, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Anglo American (LON: AAL) has rejected a $39 billion takeover offer from BHP (ASX: BHP) conditional to the target company divesting its platinum and iron ore businesses in South Africa.

BHP’s unsolicited offer “significantly undervalued” the 107-year-old mining company and would be “highly unattractive” to its shareholders, Anglo said on Friday in a response widely expected by analysts. “The BHP proposal is opportunistic and fails to value Anglo American’s prospects,” Anglo chairman Stuart Chambers said in the statement.

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BHP makes US$39-billion offer for rival Anglo American in bid to create world’s biggest copper producer – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – April 26, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Global mining companies’ lunge for copper, a critical transition metal to a low-carbon future, has intensified with BHP Group Ltd.’s unsolicited proposal to buy rival Anglo American PLC for about US$39-billion ($53-billion). Competing offers are expected.

The offer marks a return to the megadeals that transformed the mining industry in the first and second decades of this century. If successful, it would be the biggest takeover since Glencore PLC’s US$90-billion merger with Xstrata, which owned Canada’s Falconbridge nickel miner, in 2013.

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BHP makes US$39B Anglo approach to create mining giant – by Thomas Biesheuvel, Dinesh Nair and Crystal Tse (Bloomberg News – April 25, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

BHP Group Ltd. proposed a takeover of Anglo American Plc that valued the smaller miner at £31.1 billion (US$38.9 billion), in a deal that would create the world’s top copper producer while sparking the industry’s biggest shakeup in over a decade.

The biggest mining company proposed an all-share deal in which Anglo would first spin off controlling stakes in South African platinum and iron ore companies to its shareholders before being acquired by BHP. The total per-share value of the non-binding proposal was about £25.08, BHP said, a 14 per cent premium to Anglo’s closing share price on Wednesday.

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Entire Aussie industry on the brink amid China move – by Jamie Seidel (News.com.au – February 29, 2024)

https://www.news.com.au/

The commodity is meant to be the answer to the green revolution but it’s on the brink of collapse and Australia is in the firing line. Analysts believe up to half of the world’s nickel mines are unprofitable at current prices. And those prices are unlikely to change anytime soon. That has profound implications for Australia’s multinational miner, BHP.

While nickel is only a minor component of its overall portfolio, the “Big Australian” had high hopes for the critical mineral’s future. It’s a key ingredient in advanced batteries and high-efficiency electric motors. And both are crucial in the race to limit the impact of CO2-induced climate change.

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From Green Hype to Bailouts, the Nickel Industry Has Imploded – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – February 3, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Just 18 months ago, the world’s biggest mining company was in a nickel frenzy. BHP Group, to much fanfare, had struck a deal with Tesla Inc. to supply it with the crucial ingredient for electric vehicles. It was about to go toe-to-toe with Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest for control of one of the globe’s most prospective mines.

For BHP, nickel offered a bright spot. Its management had earmarked the material as a key pillar of growth, a future-facing commodity that would help offset its exit from fossil fuels and let it tap into new demand driven by the world’s race to decarbonize.

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Mining giants told to pay $9.7bn over Brazil dam disaster – by Peter Hoskins (BBC.com – January 26, 2024)

https://www.bbc.com/news/

A federal judge in Brazil has ordered mining giants BHP, Vale and their Samarco iron ore joint venture to pay 47.6bn reais ($9.67bn) in damages over a deadly dam burst in 2015.

The collapse of the Fundão dam in the south-east of the country caused a giant mudslide that killed 19 people. It also severely polluted the Rio Doce river, compromising the waterway to its outlet in the Atlantic Ocean. It was not immediately clear how much each company is required to pay.

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