Anglo sees investors, holds off on Xstrata-source
Fri Sep 4, 2009 10:47am EDT
reuters.com
* New chairman seeing shareholders
* No quick decision on demanding "put up or shut up"
By Eric Onstad
LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Miner Anglo American Plc (AAL.L) is unlikely to make a decision for several weeks on whether to force unwanted suitor Xstrata (XTA.L) to make a formal bid or walk away, a source close to the situation said on Friday.
Anglo's new chairman, John Parker, has resumed consulting with shareholders after the summer holidays and is keen to get reaction to Anglo's stance of rejecting Xstrata's nil-premium merger proposal.
"A lot of the institutions know him, they know him from wearing other hats and he's very interested to hear their views," said the source, who declined to be named.
Veteran industrialist Parker, who has chaired eight other firms, assumed the top post at Anglo on August 1. He saw shareholders in the UK this week and will travel to South Africa next week, the source added.
No one at the company could be reached immediately to comment.
Parker said on July 20 that there was "clear value gap" in Xstrata's proposal and that it was a "distraction" for management. [ID:nLK717043]
Anglo can ask UK regulators for a "put up or shut up" ruling, which would give Xstrata a deadline to either submit a bid or walk away for six months.
"There's no rush on that," said the source.
Anglo strongly rebuffed Xstrata's proposal for a "merger of equals" on June 22, saying it was "totally unacceptable", one day after Xstrata unveiled its plan. [ID:nLM97031]
Many Anglo shareholders have said that although they would not object to a merger Xstrata would have to pay a premium. One major Anglo investor said last month that the proposal was effectively dead. [ID:nLI258952]
Xstrata has said it wants to engage with Anglo management to discuss possible merger synergies it has estimated at $1 billion, which is said would be in addition to an Anglo programme to cut costs by $2 billion by 2011.
Xstrata also says that bringing together the fourth and fifth biggest diversified mining firms by market value would create a group better able to compete against rivals BHP Billiton (BLT.L) (BHP.AX) and Rio Tinto (RIO.L) (RIO.AX).
A combination of the two firms would create the world's biggest producer of zinc, platinum, coal for power stations and ferrochrome and the second-biggest in coal for steelmaking and copper. (Editing by Greg Mahlich) |
