The Japanese newspaper “Globe and Mail” reported on Maundy Thursday that the Japanese Sumitomo Metal Mining had rejected a meeting with Glencore to discuss the takeover bid.
Together with the Keevil family, Sumitomo owns the voting-weight A shares and thus the controlling majority in Teck Resources, the newspaper further wrote. Sumitomo doesn’t even want to talk to Glencore, a Keevil confidante said, according to the newspaper. A takeover of Teck would not be possible without the consent of the Keevil family and the Japanese.
Glencore made a $23 billion takeover bid for Teck on Monday. That is a premium of 22 percent compared to the closing price of the previous week. The transaction, which, among other things, provides for the spin-off of the combined coal business into a new company, has met with resistance from Teck.
The Teck board of directors rejected the Glencore plans in a separate statement. The offer was rejected without a dissenting vote, and selling the company was not an option at this point.
This was mainly justified by the fact that the Teck shareholders would be involved in trading in coal and oil, which contradicts the ESG obligations and harbors considerable legal risks. Rather, Teck wants to split itself into Teck Metals and Elk Valley Resources and thus focus on coal and base metals, respectively.
“I remain fully behind Teck’s proposed plans to create two independent companies and I support the Board’s decision against the Glencore bid,” Norman Keevil said in a statement.
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