Last month, OZ Minerals rejected an A$8.34bn takeover offer from BHP Group as it significantly undervalued the company, and it was not in the best interests of shareholders
Australia-based mining company BHP Group is planning to put forward an improved proposal to acquire domestic peer OZ Minerals (OZL), Bloomberg reported.
The report comes a month after OZL rejected an A$8.34bn ($5.8bn) takeover bid from BHP Group citing that the proposed deal significantly undervalued the business.
People familiar with the development told the publication that BHP now plans to sweeten the offer as soon as this month. However, details of the potential improved offer were not immediately available.
The sources further added that discussions are currently underway and there is no surety that BHP will decide to return with a higher price.
A BHP representative declined to comment on the matter.
In August, BHP Group proposed to acquire all OZ Minerals shares for A$25.00 per share in cash through a scheme of arrangement.
However, the board of OZ Minerals determined that the indicative proposal significantly undervalued OZ Minerals and it was not in the best interests of shareholders.
Rejecting the proposal last month, OZ Minerals managing director and CEO Andrew Cole said: “We have a unique set of copper and nickel assets, all with strong long-term growth potential in quality locations.
“We are mining minerals that are in strong demand particularly for the global electrification and decarbonisation thematic and we have a long-life Resource and Reserve base. We do not consider the proposal from BHP sufficiently recognises these attributes.”
Based in Adelaide, OZ Minerals focuses on developing a portfolio of long life, low-cost assets. The company’s assets include Carrapateena, Prominent Hill and Olympic Dam in South Australia, and Nickel West and West Musgrave in Western Australia.