From Reuters, circa 13.57GMT:
SAO PAULO, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Brazilian miner Vale has raised its bid for rival Xstrata by 17 percent to more than $89 billion, and a formal offer is expected in the coming days, a source with direct knowledge of the merger talks said on Thursday. The source, who asked to be unnamed, said the company has raised its bid to 47 pounds a share from 40 pounds. Xstrata, an Anglo-Swiss miner, declined to comment on the matter. Vale has secured bridge loans of $50 billion from a pool of banks. A second source close to the negotiations said Vale President Roger Agnelli and the company’s financial director, Fabio Barbosa, were still finalizing takeover talks in London at Xstrata’s offices.
From Dow Jones, circa 14.22GMT:
LONDON (Dow Jones)–Brazil’s Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO) hasn’t raised an informal offer to buy Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN) and no formal offer is imminent, a person close to Vale said Thursday. Brazilian newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo reported earlier Thursday that Vale had increased an informal offer for Xstrata to GBP47 a share from GBP40. That would raise the potential deal to $89.3 billion, up from a reported initial proposal of $76 billion, the newspaper reported. “This GBP47 - no such offer has been made,” the person close to Vale told Dow Jones Newswires. The person said that multiple issues related to the deal, in addition to price, remained unresolved. No formal offer is imminent, the person said.
Believe it or not, the to-ing and fro-ing over these newswire reports wiped £2.7bn on and off Xstrata’s share price in London on Thursday afternoon.
FT Alphaville intelligence on the matter (well, a quick word with N Hume): “It’s weeks away.”
