BHP drops bid for Anglo American after early talks

(Reuters) -BHP Group said on Monday it is no longer pursuing a potential combination with Anglo American after preliminary discussions with the rival miner's board.

BHP had made a renewed takeover bid for Anglo American, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday, just months after the London-listed company announced merger plans with Canada's Teck Resources to create a global copper-focused heavyweight.

Anglo American declined to comment on Sunday.

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 revealed plans to merge with Teck in an all-share transaction, marking the sector's second-biggest M&A deal ever.

In May 2024, BHP scrapped a $49 billion bid for Anglo 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 about 1.2 million tons, still second to BHP.    

(Reporting by Anousha Sakoui, Clara Denina, Melanie Burton, and Gursimran Kaur; Additional reporting to Nilutpal Timsina; Editing by Jane Merriman and Richard Chang)