By Stephen Bartholomeusz
Copyright brisbanetimes
Anglo rejected a bid that had been complicated by its ownership of a number of poison pills – its South African platinum, iron ore and diamond assets – ostensibly because of the deal’s complex structure, with BHP proposing to spin off the platinum and iron ore assets ahead of a completed bid. Anglo instead preferred to pursue its own restructuring of its operations, which have chalked up massive losses in recent years.
Demand for copper is booming and will continue to boom as investments in renewable energy, electric vehicles and data centres for artificial intelligence soar.
Teck rejected Glencore’s overtures (although it did sell Glencore its metallurgical coal assets) because the company’s founding family opposed it. The Keevil family holds about 55 per cent of “A-class” super-voting shares in Teck, each of which carries 100 votes.
The family is backing the merger with Anglo, under which the combined company will be headquartered in Canada (although its primary sharemarket listing will be in London) and chaired by Teck’s chair, Sheila Murray. Teck shareholders would own 37.6 per cent of the merged entity.
The other obstacle to any rival offer for Teck is Canada’s resources nationalism. Canada said last year it would only approve foreign takeovers of its miners involved in critical minerals “in the most exceptional of circumstances”.
