According to the Financial Times, South African house Anglo has gone to the Takeovers Panel to force Swiss miner Xstrata to make an offer by November 20.
Xstrata had originally proposed what it coined a “compelling” merger with Anglo in June this year, but the deal was shot down by Anglo as “totally unacceptable”
Xstrata said a merged company would be well placed to compete with giants BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale and save the combined company $US1 billion per year.
At the time Xstrata said it would expect more than $458 million per annum in operational savings, especially from the coal synergies created in Australia and South Africa.
A combined company would have a market capitalisation of $66.9 billion, calculated in June.
According to the FT, Xstrata must formalise its original proposal, up the offer or walk away by deadline.
