Berenberg reiterates 'hold' rating on BHP following OZ Minerals offer

On 7 August, BHP announced an offer to acquire ASX-listed OZ Minerals at AUD $25.0 (£14.64) per share, following rival Rio Tinto's offer to acquire the minorities of Turquoise Hill Resources.

"In both scenarios, the offers were rejected, suggesting opportunistic timing by the acquirors, with the acquirees likely indicating that full value was not recognised in each case," said Berenberg.

The German bank stated that BHP's offer took some parts of the market by surprise, in terms of both the identity of the target and whether this was the start of a new wave of "value-destructive M&A" by the firm.

"We do not believe either is the case: OZ is a decent business with good assets, which we think offer upside in the broader BHP portfolio. While the upside to the OZ deal needs a bit more explaining than other M&A (eg Rio/TRQ), we see value in it and think BHP will need to pay more to secure the assets, as the OZ share price implies," said the analysts, who also reiterated their 2,100.0p target price on the stock.

"We think an eventual valuation in the low AUD $30s per share is a sensible price to pay, given risks and opportunities."

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com