| From cnn.com: Mining M&A has more than doubled so far this year, boosted earlier Wednesday by Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata PLC's GBP5 billion unsolicited bid for Lonmin PLC. Mining M&A deals are worth $142.5 billion so far this year, up from $56.8 billion in August 2007, according to Dealogic PLC, which tracks the M&A market.
Growth is driven by consolidation in the industry as players seek to gain scale by buying competitors rather than developing projects on their own. Lonmin said that Xstrata's offer was opportunistic as well.
Merrill Lynch & Co has been the most active bank, advising on mining M&A deals worth $25 billion collectively. Citigroup Inc and CIBC World Markets were the next most active advisers, working on deals worth $15.9 billion and $ 15.47 billion, respectively...... Full Article: Source |