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BHP has said it does not intend to bid for Anglo American after it made a fresh approach for its rival in recent days.
The Australian company approached the board of Anglo American in a shock move that could have disrupted the UK company’s $50bn merger with Teck Resources.
However, BHP has now walked away from talks.
In a statement issued on Monday morning, the mining company said: “Following preliminary discussions with the board of Anglo American, BHP confirms that it is no longer considering a combination of the two companies.”
“Whilst BHP continues to believe that a combination with Anglo American would have had strong strategic merits and created significant value for all stakeholders, BHP is confident in the highly compelling potential of its own organic growth strategy,” it said.
Anglo American declined to comment after reports that BHP had approached the company.
The approach rekindled a protracted takeover process last year when BHP made multiple offers to acquire Anglo American to boost its exposure to copper.
That deal, dismissed as “highly complex and unattractive” by Anglo American, was contingent on the UK company breaking itself up by spinning off or selling its operations in Australian coal, diamonds and platinum.
Anglo American has since restructured itself and disposed of its platinum business, while an agreed $3.8bn sale of its coal operations to Peabody collapsed in August after an explosion at one of its mines.
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