What Matters Today: Rumours abound that Glencore is now considering a tilt at Anglo American (AAL LN)

A surging copper price and the market belief that the industrial metal will be in short supply in the years ahead as we move towards a carbon-neutral world were the catalysts for BHP’s purchase of OZ Minerals (OZL) last year and bid for Anglo-American (AAL LN) last month. In our opinion, there’s plenty more corporate activity likely in the copper space over the coming years, with the industrial metal remaining a core bullish view for MM. As we’ve said from the start, we would find it highly unlikely that BHP would approach this transaction with a one and done mentality and a second or even third bid would be likely. The AFR is running with a story this morning that both Argo Investments and Wilson Asset Management have said they are satisfied that value would be created by combining BHP and Anglo American’s copper and coal assets, this sort of PR can often be used as a way of preparing or softening the market for when the higher bid does come, which we think is inevitable.

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