Anglo in crisis talks with shareholders over bid

ANgLo American’s chairman has vowed to meet with shareholders to discuss a looming takeover battle for the miner.

City grandee Stuart Chambers, who has form selling off blue- chip companies, yesterday said he will hold talks with the firm’s top 30 investors.

Anglo last week rejected a £25-per-share offer from rival BHP.

The offer valued Anglo at £31bn, but the London-listed company said the bid was opportunistic and undervalued it.

Australian giant BHP – which is the world’s biggest listed mining group – is mulling a higher bid for Anglo.

City experts have said BHP’s approach could kick off a bidding war as competitors eye up Anglo’s copper mines in Peru and Chile.

glencore and Rio Tinto are potential rival bidders, analysts have said.

Quizzed about a potential takeover at Anglo’s annual general meeting in the City, Chambers told shareholders: ‘It’s not the board that decides, but you.’

one shareholder thanked Chambers for rejecting ‘the comedy offer’ from BHP, saying he valued the company at £41 a share.

However, Chambers, 67, has been criticised for his track record of selling other household name companies while in charge. He oversaw the £26bn sale of Cambridge-based chipmaker Arm to Japanese investor Softbank in 2016. Arm snubbed London and chose New York for its listing when it floated again last year.

He was also chairman of FTSE 100 drinks can manufacturer Rexam when it was bought by American rival Ball Corporation in 2015.

And he was chief executive of glass manufacturer Pilkington when it was sold to Japan’s Nippon Sheet glass in 2005.

Miners want to boost their copper production capacity to cash in on soaring demand. The metal is used in everything from cars to power grids and construction.

Analysts expect a copper shortage this year while demand grows, as it is crucial to the energy transition. Copper prices hit a two- year high yesterday due to the supply squeeze.

glencore, meanwhile, said its total copper production was around 239,700 metric tonnes in the first quarter – down 2pc on a year earlier. In an investor update, glencore left its full-year production forecast unchanged. But profit from its trading unit is expected to be at the top end of annual guidance between £2.4bn and £2.8bn this year.

Russ Mould, investment director at broker AJ Bell, said: ‘It’s fair to say that glencore is one of the most ambitious companies in the mining sector. glencore wants to be the biggest and the best.’