The signing of the agreement follows four weeks of due diligence,and means that the proposal will now go to an Oz Minerals shareholder vote in “late March to early April”,the two companies said.
“The Oz Minerals board believes that BHP’s offer appropriately reflects the quality,growth profile and strategic nature of Oz Minerals’ long-life copper and nickel assets,” chief executive Andrew Cole said.
“The Oz Minerals team will work closely with all of our stakeholders,including our employees,customers,suppliers and the traditional owners of the land on which we operate,to ensure their interests are prioritised should the scheme proceed.”
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BHP,the largest Australian mining company,has been looking to acquire Oz Minerals as part of its accelerating efforts to boost its supplies of copper and nickel,two minerals the world needs much more of in coming years as raw materials in electric cars and clean energy infrastructure. Electric cars require up to four times as much copper as internal combustion-engine vehicles,says BHP,while nickel is a critical ingredient in lithium-ion batteries.
BHP last month sweetened its bid to buy Oz Minerals from $25 a share to $28.25 a share. Its revised offer valued the company at $9.6 billion.
If the deal succeeds,it will mark the Melbourne-based mining heavyweight’s biggest acquisition since it paid $US12 billion for US shale gas producer Petrohawk in 2011.