BHP takeover bid spurned by Anglo American

Australian mining major BHP Billiton has had its takeover advances spurned by Anglo American.

BHP on Thursday launched a £31.1 billion proposal to buy up the assets of is smaller international mining rival in an ‘all-paper’ transaction –offering new BHP shares to Anglo shareholders whilst also proposing to split off Anglo’s platinum business to allay monopoly fears.

The City of London and its analysts were still scrambling to weigh up the bid by the time that Anglo, on Friday morning, confirmed it was rejecting the offer.

‘Opportunistic’ is what the bid-target called the approach, whilst also damning it as ‘complex’ and ‘uncertain’.

Indeed, the initial read in the square mile was that the offer was on the cheap side.

Mining experts pointed to copper as the main attraction for BHP and highlighted that copper prices are currently near two-year highs.

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