BHP has left the door open for a fresh takeover bid of Anglo American despite saying earlier it had “moved on” from the proposed transaction.
Commenting at BHP’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, chairman Ken MacKenzie said that the group sought “an opportunity … to create something unique and special in buying Anglo American.
“Unfortunately, Anglo American shareholders had a different view, and they thought there was more value in the plan that their management wanted to execute. And so they moved on. And quite frankly, so have we.”
But Bloomberg News reported that BHP was forced to clarify Mackenzie’s comments saying they weren’t intended as an official statement under UK takeover rules.
The panel has agreed not to treat them as a statement of intention not to make an offer, said the newswire. As a result, the world’s biggest miner is still allowed to make a fresh approach for Anglo after its current standstill ends late next month, it said.
BHP also issued a statement on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange: “The UK Takeover Panel Executive has confirmed that the comments made will not be treated as a statement of intention not to make an offer in respect of Anglo American for the purposes of Rule 2.8 of the UK Code”.
BHP’s intentions regarding Anglo American have been mixed. Its CFO Vandita Pant also used the phrase “moved on” when asked about rekindling an offer for Anglo when asked at the FT Mining Summit in September.
Yet the newspaper reported less than a month later that BHP executives, including CEO Mike Henry, had met with South African government officials as well as the Public Investment Corporation, a state-owned asset manager and Anglo’s second largest shareholder with a 7.5% stake.
“The consensus view is that they are coming back, if they can figure it out,” one banker told the FT. Another said it was an “open secret” that BHP was considering whether to make a bid.
“In our opinion, a renewed approach by BHP is unlikely before the spin out of Amplats as this materially reduced the complexity of the transaction and the ‘structure’ issues flagged by the Anglo board,” said UBS in an investment report last week.
The world’s biggest miner walked away from a $49bn bid to acquire Anglo in May after it was rebuffed three times.
