By Arunima Kumar and Divya Rajagopal
(Reuters) -The CEO of Teck Resources Ltd said on Thursday that the Canadian miner is considering a range of proposals including a partial sale of its coal business from various interested parties after Glencore offered up to $8.2 billion for the unit.
Teck is banking on the limited coking coal mines in the world to help it secure a better valuation as the company runs a comprehensive review, which was sparked by Glencore’s initial bid for the whole company in April.
“This business is positioned to capitalize on the global supply gap from existing mine depletion and a lack of new projects coming into production,” Teck CEO Jonathan Price told analysts after the company reported quarterly earnings, that missed analysts estimates.
Price did not reveal the names of the other potential suitors, but said the company is ‘actively’ engaged in the process when analysts asked whether there will be a fresh update by October.
“We are not sitting on our hands here and we are taking an active approach,” Price said.
Swiss miner and trading firm Glencore initially offered to buy Teck Resources for $22.5 billion, which the Canadian miner twice rebuffed. Glencore came back with an offer just to buy Teck’s coal business in June.
Teck’s coal mines are among the few left in the world, which makes the company attractive to Glencore as it seeks to combine them with its own thermal coal business.
Vancouver-based Teck Resources missed profit estimates for second-quarter ended June and lowered its annual copper production outlook due to delays at a project in Chile.
The company now expects annual copper production of 330,000 tonnes to 375,000 tonnes, down from its previous estimate of 390,000 tonnes to 445,000 tonnes.
The Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 project (QB2) in the South American country is one of the largest undeveloped copper resources in the world, and Teck had previously said it expected to achieve full production rates by the end of 2023. The company expects to meet this target.
Teck also reported the death of an employee at QB2 during the second-quarter.
For the reported quarter, realized prices for steelmaking coal and copper fell 41% and 11% respectively, denting profit.
Fears of slowing growth, particularly in top consumer China, has hurt copper prices. The average copper price fell about 11% to $3.85 per pound in the April-June quarter, according to CFRA Research.
Quarterly copper production fell about 11% to 64,000 tonnes, while production of steelmaking coal rose 9.4% to 5.8 million tonnes.
On an adjusted basis, Teck posted a profit of C$1.22 per share, missing analysts’ average estimate of C$1.25 per share, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
(Reporting by Arunima Kumar, Divya Rajagopal and Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Marguerita Choy)
