Deals
Freeport Deal Could Be Rio’s Glencore Repellent: Real M&A
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Rio Tinto Group may decide that its best defense against another takeover approach from Glencore Plc is buying the largest mining company in the U.S.
A bid for Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will probably look tempting to London-based Rio as a way to stymie Glencore, said Paul Gait, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. Freeport, a $32 billion copper producer that expanded into energy last year, is the cheapest it’s been in more than 15 months relative to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.