Miner Anglo American rejects 'opportunistic' $39 billion takeover bid from BHP

Diversified miner Anglo American on April 26 rejected a GBP31.1 billion ($38.9 billion) takeover bid by another large miner BHP, saying the proposal significantly undervalued the company and its future prospects.

"The BHP proposal is opportunistic and fails to value Anglo American's prospects, and it is also highly unattractive," said Stuart Chambers, chairman of Anglo American, in a statement.

"Anglo American is well positioned to create significant value from its portfolio of high quality assets that are well aligned with the energy transition and other major demand trends," he added.

The development comes after BHP proposed an all-share deal April 25 that would have given it exposure to future-facing commodities like copper.

Besides copper, the other large business that could have been impacted if the deal had gone through was metallurgical coal, according to sources.

The deal would have led to concentration of coking coal capacity under one name and made the market monopolistic, but would also have increased the spot liquidity of coking coal in the market, sources said.

Anglo American's met coal production stood at 15 million mt in 2023, up 7% year on year. The company's 2024 output guidance was at 15 million-17 million mt for met coal.