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Mining company BHP has made a renewed takeover approach to rival Anglo American, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday, just months after the London-listed miner agreed merger plans with Canada’s Teck Resources to create a global copper-focused heavyweight.
Anglo American declined to comment. BHP did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
BHP has made overtures to Anglo American in recent days, Bloomberg News reported earlier, citing people familiar with the matter, adding that deliberations are ongoing and there is no certainty of a deal.
Anglo American’s market capitalisation is about $41.80 billion, while BHP’s is around $132.18 billion, based on LSEG data.
In September, Anglo American agreed to plans to merge with Teck in an all-share deal, marking the sector’s second-biggest M&A deal ever.
The deal came just over a year after BHP scrapped a $49 billion bid for Anglo, a deal that would have boosted the Australian miner’s holdings of copper, the metal seen as essential for the transition to greener energy.
If the BHP/Anglo deal had gone ahead, the combined entity would have been the world’s largest copper producer, with a total annual production of around 1.9 million metric tons.
The new Anglo Teck group is expected to have a combined annual copper production capacity of approximately 1.2 million tons, still second to BHP.