Swiss mining giant Glencore made an offer for Teck Resources' steelmaking coal business on June 12 after the Canadian miner rejected its $22.5 billion offer to combine the two companies.
Teck said it is in talks with Glencore about the coal proposal. The offer is the latest in Glencore's pursuit of Teck's metallurgical coal assets, regarded as some of the world's best.
Glencore Chief Executive Gary Nagle said last month that acquiring just Teck's coal unit was the company's "distant second" choice after Teck shareholders in April voted down a proposed merger of the two firms.
Teck on June 6 said it had received several proposals for its metallurgical coal business as it works on a plan to split it from its base metals unit. The separation plan failed to win enough shareholder support in April.
Glencore's offer proposes demerging the coal units of both companies. Analysts said the offer could be a "middle ground" for Teck to exit coal in a cleaner way while allowing Glencore to separate its coal and metals businesses.
"If Teck is unwilling to consider a sale of Teck Metals at this juncture, an attractive 'middle ground' could be the sale of the coking coal assets to Glencore," Deutsche Bank analysts said.
Other parties interested in Teck's coal unit include Canadian investor Pierre Lassonde and Nippon Steel Corp.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Harry Huo)
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