Curtain on Bhp-Anglo merger: mining giant gives up takeover
The Australian group had asked for a further extension to the negotiations, but was refused: the concessions it had made were deemed insufficient. So it preferred to back out, not without a note of controversy
3' min read
3' min read
The curtain falls on the possibility of a maxi merger between Bhp and Anglo American. The Australian mining giant preferred to withdraw its $49 billion offer, after the failure of negotiations with which it had hoped to reach an amicable settlement.
It was Anglo's board that closed the door to any possibility of compromise, rejecting Bhp's request to devote more time to the negotiations, through a further extension of the deadline by which it would have been obliged to formalise a binding offer or, conversely, to officially renounce the takeover for at least six months, as required by British law.
The group reluctantly chose the second option. "We believed that our proposal for Anglo American was a compelling opportunity to effectively grow the value pie for both shareholdings, but we were unable to reach an agreement," ha commented Bhp CEO Mike Henry, highlighting in particular the knot represented by "regulatory risks and costs in South Africa".
A negotiating defeat, for which the manager lays some responsibility on the shoulders of Anglo's top management: 'Although we tried to dialogue constructively and despite numerous requests, we were never able to obtain from Anglo American key information necessary to formulate measures to counter the excessive risk they perceived.
Even Anglo's board did not reserve tender words for Bhp after the seven days of negotiations it had granted it: an openness to dialogue to which it had yielded, according to press rumours, under pressure from some large shareholders (including the largest, BlackRock), but which did not bear the desired fruit.
