BHP has made an about-turn on moving away from a new offer for Anglo American, a day after the company’s chair, Ken Mackenzie,was quoted saying the diversified resource group had moved on after shareholders in the London and Johannesburg listed iron ore, PGM and copper miner decided against its offer.
Mackenzie was quoted saying BHP had decided to move on from an opportunity to table a new offer that lapses at the end of November under London listing rules.
“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,” Mackenzie was quoted saying by Reuters.
However, on Thursday, BHP said that the statements did not constitute an intention not to fulfil another offer provided for under London listing rules.
“BHP clarifies that these comments were not intended to be a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the UK City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (UK Code) applies, nor intended to carry any other consequences under the UK Code,” BHP said in a statement.
BHP has described its 2024 full year as strong, after it “performed well” financially.
This amid China and supply side surpluses for some commodities which is contributing to price volatility.
“We faced these challenges earlier in the year when we made the tough but necessary decision to place our Nickel West operations and West Musgrave project into temporary suspension,” said Mackenzie.
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