Anglo American has rejected a third unsolicited takeover proposal from rival miner BHP but has agreed to extend the PUSU deadline to May 29.
The latest bid included the same highly complex structure as the previously rejected proposals, which involved an all-share offer with a requirement for Anglo American to complete two separate demergers of its entire shareholdings in Anglo American Platinum and Kumba Iron Ore to its shareholders. The all-share offer and required demergers would be inter-conditional.
“The board considered BHP’s latest proposal carefully, concluded it does not meet expectations of value delivered to Anglo American’s shareholders, and has unanimously rejected it,” said Anglo American chair Stuart Chambers.
“In particular, it does not address the board’s concerns about the structure, which results in significant complexity, execution risks, an extended timeline to completion and consequently has the potential for material value leakage to be disproportionately suffered by Anglo American’s shareholders. Multiple engagements with the BHP team have not yet been able to resolve the concerns on these issues.”
Anglo American recently laid out plans to refocus on copper and iron ore while spinning out or selling its less profitable coal, nickel, diamond and platinum businesses. The miner said its standalone plan was simpler than BHP’s latest bid, which would likely take 18 months or more to complete.
“The board is confident in Anglo American’s standalone future prospects and believes that Anglo American has set out a clear pathway to deliver the acceleration of its strategy detailed on May 14, 2024, that is expected to unlock significant and undiluted value for Anglo American’s shareholders,” the company stated.
Source: Anglo American