Vale, Freeport-McMoRan and Anglo American eye Teck Resources
In February, Teck proposed spinning off its steelmaking coal business to focus on base metals, particularly copper and zinc. Since then, Teck, Canada’s largest diversified miner has become the target of other miners searching to strengthen their base metal portfolios.
As reported first by Globe and Mail as well as by Reuters, Vale SA, Anglo American Plc and Freeport-McMoRan Inc. have joined the pursuit of Tack if it moves ahead with the planned split.
Glencore Plc. launched a hostile $23.1 billion takeover attempt in March that was rejected by shareholders as well as former chairman Norman Keevil whose family controls Teck through its ownership of the majority of the company’s ‘A’ class of shares. In a statement, Keevil said “As there has been much media commentary regarding my views on the future of Teck, I would like to provide a clear statement of my perspective,” he said.
“My colleagues and I are proud of what we achieved through 30 years of building Teck, growing the company 500-fold from a $25 million market cap to $12.6 billion, with double-digit compounded growth in shareholder value, and continuing growth in recent years to $25 billion today,” he added.
Keevil clarify he would support a transaction — be an operating partnership, merger, acquisition, or sale – with the “right partner,” on the “right terms” for Teck Metals after the planned separation.
The 'A' class shares in Teck have much more voting power than the 'B' class shares held by institutions.
“There are numerous mining industry parties who have their eyes on Teck and would be interested in partnering or investing in Teck Metals after it separates its base metals and steelmaking coal businesses,” Keevil said in a statement.
Glencore modified its $22.5 billion all-share takeover bid for Teck to include up to $8.2 billion in cash, but Teck's board called it “largely unchanged.”
Teck has repeatedly rejected Glencore's offer of merging the companies and subsequently spinning off their combined thermal and steel-making coal businesses, saying it would expose shareholders to thermal coal, oil, LNG and related sectors.
Teck investors are due to vote on the miner’s restructuring plan on April 26 that will see it spin off its highly polluting coal business and focus on production of copper and zinc.