In one of the largest potential mining mergers in more than a decade, London-listed Anglo American has confirmed it has received an “unsolicited, non-binding and highly conditional” proposal from Australia’s BHP, the world’s largest mining company.
Anglo said that as part of any deal BHP was proposing spin-offs of two Anglo units in South Africa— Anglo American Platinum, the platinum division known as Amplats, and Kumba Iron Ore.
“From a strategic standpoint, bigger is always better in the metals and mining sector,” CreditSights analysts Wen Li and Michael O’Brien said in a note.
The last comparable big mining merger took place 11 years ago when Glencore took over Xstrata.
