VANCOUVER — The controlling shareholder of Teck Resources Ltd. rejected Glencore's offer to buy the Canadian miner, but says he is open to talking about other possible deals once the company completes its own plan to split its business.
Teck chairman emeritus Norman Keevil said Glencore's proposal is the wrong one, at the wrong time.
"There are numerous mining industry parties who have their eyes on Teck and would be interested in partnering or investing in Teck Metals after it separates its base metals and steelmaking coal businesses," Keevil wrote in a statement.
Teck's board has rejected Glencore's unsolicited takeover offer that would see shareholders receive a stake in a combined metals company as well as a choice of cash or shares in a company that would hold their merged coal assets.
Instead, the company is pursuing a plan it announced in February to split up its metal and steelmaking coal businesses into two companies, Teck Metals and Elk Valley Resources. The proposal will be voted on by shareholders later this month.
Keevil said he would support a transaction – whether it be an operating partnership, merger, acquisition, or sale – with the right partner, on the right terms for Teck Metals after the separation takes place.
"Based on my decades of experience building a successful mining company, I believe that pursuing a sale or merger transaction now would rob our shareholders of significant post-separation value," Keevil wrote.
Teck is controlled by the Keevil family, which owns the company's class A shares together with Japanese company Sumitomo.
Glencore's initial proposal had been an all-stock offer that would have seen it acquire Teck and then split up the metals side of both companies along with parts of Glencore's marketing business into one company, and the combined coal and some other related assets into another company. However, the Swiss company later revised its offer to include the cash component.
In revising its bid, Glencore acknowledged that certain Teck investors may prefer a full coal exit and others may not desire thermal coal exposure.
Teck has called the Glencore bid opportunistic and said it exposes shareholders to what it said is significant jurisdictional risk.
The Vancouver-based miner has said that its plan will give shareholders more choice and ways to maximize value because they will hold shares in both Teck Metals and the new coal company, Elk Valley Resources.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2023.
Companies in this story: (TSX:TECK.B)
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