On Monday,steel giant ArcelorMittal and Nunavut Iron increased their rival takeover bids for Baffinland Iron Mines (BIM:TSX), currently trading three cents off its 52-week high of $1.58.
Also on Monday,HudBay Minerals Inc. (HBM:TSX) announced its purchase of copper producer Norsemont Mining Inc. (NOM:TSX) for just under $400 million. Hudbay shares are currently trading at $17.23, up $1.02 from Monday’s close of $16.21, while Norsemont stock touched a 52-week high of $4.72 on the news and is currently trading at $4.63.
On Tuesday,U.S. firm Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF:NYSE) announced its $4.07 billion acquisition of Canadian miner Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines (CLM:TSX). Both firms’ stock hit 52-week highs on the news—Cliffs shares are currently trading at $88.84 after a high of $89.92 the day of the announcement, while Consolidated Thompson is currently trading at $17.40, off its high of $17.95 two days ago.
And on Wednesday, Toronto-based copper producers Lundin Mining (LUN:TSX) and Inmet Mining (IMN.TO) announced their intention to merge into a $9.1 billion company to be called Symterra Corp.
The deal still must be approved by the shareholders of both companies—although the 50% overlap in shareholders makes this extremely likely—but after the all-share transaction is complete, Inmet stockholders will own 52.6% of the new company, and Inmet Chief Executive Jochen Tilk will be the CEO.
Symterra, which will have $1.3 billion in cash and no debts, will be a large copper, nickel and zinc producer that could be producing over a half million tons of copper annually within the next six years. It assets will include Lundin’s 24.75% equity in Freeport-McMoRan (FCX:NYSE)’s giant Tenke-Fungurume copper-cobalt mine in the Congo and three European mines, plus Inmet’s four mines, located in Europe, Papua New Guinea, and Asia, as well as Inmet’s Cobre Panama copper mine in Panama. Symterra is likely to initially focus on developing the mines in the Congo and Panama.
In the run-up to the announcement of the deal, Lundin shares rose 7% to a 2.5 year high of $8.22 before settling at $7.66 at the end of the week’s trading. Imnet stock hit $82 a share, its highest since mid-2008, and is currently trading at $78.95.
