BHP concedes defeat as Anglo American shareholders vote on Tek merger

Mining giant BHP has ruled out a last-ditch takeover bid for FTSE 100 rival Anglo American, whose shareholders will vote on a £40billion merger with a Canadian firm in two weeks’ time.

Melbourne-based BHP, which is the world’s largest listed miner, made three unsuccessful takeover bids for Anglo American last year in efforts to bolster its exposure to copper.

But in September Anglo American revealed a tie-up with Teck Resources in the sector’s second-largest deal ever, which is set to create one of the world’s biggest miners of the critical resource.

Some analysts had suggested the proposed creation of Anglo Teck, which will be based in Vancouver but maintain its primary share listing on the London Stock Exchange, might prompt BHP to return with another offer.

But BHP told shareholders on Monday that ‘following preliminary discussions’ with Anglo American’s board, it is ‘no longer considering a combination of the two companies’.

It said in a short statement: ‘Whilst BHP continues to believe that a combination with Anglo American would have had strong strategic merits and created significant value for all stakeholders, BHP is confident in the highly compelling potential of its own organic growth strategy.’

Anglo American shareholders will vote on the merger with Tek Resources in two weeks’ time 

Miner Anglo American will move its headquarters out of London after agreeing a £40billion merger with a Canadian rival that creates one of the world’s largest copper producers.

The FTSE 100 giant, which last year fended off a £39billion bid from BHP, is joining forces with Teck Resources in the sector’s second-largest deal ever.

The Anglo Tek merger comes amid a major restructuring kickstarted under chief executive Duncan Wanblad following the BHP bid.

It has sold its nickel and platinum businesses and is in talks to offload iconic diamond firm De Beers – though the £2.8billion sale of its steelmaking coal business fell through last month.

Wanblad will become Anglo Teck’s chief executive with Teck’s Jonathan Price serving as his deputy.

The union – the second largest in the sector behind Glencore and Xstrata’s £66billion merger in 2013 – creates the world’s fifth-largest copper company.

The metal is used in the power and construction sectors and is poised to benefit from burgeoning demand from the electric vehicle sector and other new applications including data centres for artificial intelligence.

Miners are racing to dominate the copper market, though many attempts to strike big deals have fallen through. Teck rejected a £17billion takeover offer from Glencore in 2023.

BHP, which is currently facing the legal fallout of a deadly Brazilian dam collapse in 2015, posted its weakest annual underlying profit in five years in August after oversupply concerns and slowing Chinese demand weighed on iron ore prices.

However, the result was better than expected after record production despite a backdrop of global disruption.

BHP continues to steadily ramp up its exposure to copper.

Anglo American shares were up 1.2 per cent to 2,745p in early trading, bringing 2025 gains to around 32 per cent. 

BHP shares were up 0.4 per cent at 2,023p, having added 1.8 per cent since the start of the year. 

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