Glencore, Rio abandon merger talks for the third time
Rio Tinto said it could not reach a deal that would deliver value to its shareholders and was no longer in talks with Glencore about a takeover that would create the world’s largest mining company.
Glencore shares fell as much as 10.8 per cent to 456 pence.
Rio Tinto’s London-listed shares were down 2.6 per cent at 6,820 pence at 3.35pm in the UK (2.35am AEDT on Friday).
Rio Tinto I told the shareholders It said in a statement on Thursday that it was “no longer considering a possible merger or other business combination with Glencore.”
Attempts to merge the companies have repeatedly failed.
The British-Australian company rejected Glencore’s merger approach in 2014, saying it was not in the interests of shareholders, and the next round of negotiations in 2024 ended with no deal.
“The key terms of the potential offer were for Rio Tinto to retain both the chairman and chief executive roles and to surrender pro forma ownership of the combined company, which in our view materially underestimated Glencore’s underlying relative value contribution to the combined group,” Glencore said in a statement.
Glencore said it had concluded that the proposed acquisition in these circumstances was not in the interests of shareholders.
The canceled talks mirror other ambitious mining deals, including BHP’s US$49bn ($70bn) approach to Anglo American, that have unraveled over concerns about the structure of the bid even as the sector looks towards consolidation amid rising demand for metals.
with PA
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
