Anglo American Shares Gain on Chinalco Talk

Shares of Anglo American were higher Tuesday, following a surge in the previous session, on fresh speculation that Aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco) could be interested in taking over the miner.

Anglo American shares jumped as much as 12 percent Monday on news the mining company had received a ¡°merger of equals¡± proposal from rival Xstrata.

But after just a few hours consideration, Anglo American said the bid was "unattractive" for shareholders and would weaken its strategic positions in platinum, iron ore and diamond markets.

Anglo American [AAL-GB  1652.00    -46.00  (-2.71%)   ] shares closed lower Monday on the rebuff, at 1,698 pence, despite the early rally.

Anglo American shares continued to decline at the open on Tuesday, but the stock soon recovered to gain more than 1 percent with traders citing market talk about interest from Chinalco, according to Reuters.

Traders said the market expectation was for a 2,200-pence-per share bid for Anglo American from Chinalco, which would value the group at about 27.7 billion pounds ($45.6 billion).

A Chinalco spokesman in Shanghai said that the company was unaware of the bid talk, Reuters reported. While Chinalco representatives in London and officials from Anglo American declined to comment to Reuters.

Anglo American shares were higher at 1,720 pence, having fallen as low as 1,610 pence earlier.

Xstrata [XTA-GB  639.90    4.80  (+0.76%)   ] also failed to close its hostile bid for Lonmin last year, but expectations for consolidation in the sector are still high.

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