A bird's-eye view of Anglo American in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 28, 2020. (Gallo Images/Sharon Seretlo)
With less than a day to go until the deadline, advisers to BHP Group and Anglo American were still struggling to find a solution to save BHP's ambitious $49 billion takeover plan.
BHP has until 5pm London time on Wednesday to respond to the offer after Anglo agreed to an extension of the deadline for discussions. Bloomberg reported last week that the two companies were close to agreeing on the value of the offer, and BHP Chief Executive Mike Henry flew to London for final meetings with investors before the deadline.
But the biggest obstacle to a deal remains the same as it has been for the past five weeks: BHP's complicated deal structure. Anglo argues that the requirement to first spin off majority stakes in the two South African mining companies poses too much risk to its own investors who will ultimately hold those shares, and it is calling on BHP to either change the structure or compensate shareholders for the loss in value that results from the spin-off.
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