SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Codelco, the world’s biggest copper exporter, has received many approaches over the sale of mining assets, including Freeport’s El Abra stake, chairman Oscar Landerretche said in an interview published on Saturday.
“At this moment in the copper market there is a kind of mergers and acquisitions push, so there are a lot of discussions. Every conference we go to, we get approached with 25 different offers,” Landerretche told Chilean newspaper La Tercera.
These have included Freeport-McMoran Inc’s (FCX.N) 51 percent stake in Chile’s El Abra copper mine, he confirmed. Codelco [COBRE.UL], which owns the other 49 percent, would be interested in the asset “at the right price,” he said.
Freeport, like other big miners, has been selling assets to cut debt after copper prices tumbled.
Landerretche, speaking in London where a Chilean delegation of policymakers and business leaders has been seeking to drum up investor interest, said Codelco would not be interested in Anglo American’s (AAL.L) controlling stake in Chile’s Los Bronces copper mine.
Anglo has said the stake is not for sale. However, some media reports have previously suggested Codelco, which owns a smaller stake, would be interested in buying it out.
(Reporting by Rosalba O’Brien; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
