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BHP Group Ltd on Wednesday afternoon confirmed it does not intend to make a firm offer for Anglo American PLC, hours after the latter rejected its request for an extension to a bid deadline. The Melbourne-based miner’s most recent £34 billion takeover proposal, offering 0.8860 of a BHP share for each Anglo share, was rejected by fellow miner Anglo American last week. BHP shares traded 0.8% higher at 2,353.00 pence in London late on Wednesday. Anglo American traded down 3.1% at 2,480.00p. Following the dismissal, BHP had until the extended deadline of 1700 BST on Wednesday to address Anglo American’s concerns and put forward a revised offer. Earlier on Wednesday, BHP requested an additional extension to allow for further engagement, saying it had made an effort to address the concerns and proposed a range of socioeconomic measures to rectify value uncertainty issues relating to the proposed transition structure. BHP also indicated a willingness to discuss a reverse break fee, payable if it failed to secure regulatory and antitrust approvals. Anglo American rejected the extension request anyway, saying that BHP’s latest proposal remained confined in ‘scope, impact and duration’. BHP said it was ‘disappointed that the board of Anglo American has decided not to continue discussions with BHP to resolve its concern’, adding: ‘BHP’s revised proposal would have offered immediate value for Anglo American shareholders and would have allowed Anglo American shareholders to benefit from the long-term value created from combining Anglo American and BHP.’ BHP’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Henry commented: ‘While we believed that our proposal for Anglo American was a compelling opportunity to effectively grow the pie of value for both sets of shareholders, we were unable to reach agreement with Anglo American on our specific views in respect of South African regulatory risk and cost and, despite seeking to engage constructively and numerous requests, we were not able to access from Anglo American key information required to formulate measures to address the excess risk they perceive. ‘We remain of the view that our proposal was the most effective structure to deliver value for Anglo American shareholders, and we are confident that, working together with Anglo American, we could have obtained all required regulatory approvals, including in South Africa.’ Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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