Why was BHP happy to bid for Anglo but not buy into lithium?
The mining industry was all a-twitter in the last week of April with news of BHP’s US$39bn bid for Anglo American. BHP made it pretty clear that it wasn’t too interested in Anglo’s platinum and iron ore divisions; it was the copper business that interested it. A deal, if successful, would push BHP from the world’s second-largest copper producer to the largest. But it’s not a done-deal by any means. With copper such a key commodity for the Energy Transition, there may be anti-competition concerns, or other companies may covet the assets, setting up a bidding war.
Topics
Albemarle
Anglo American
BHP
Copper
Energy Transition
Lithium
M&A
