BHP changes its head of M&A in the midst of massive takeover

Catherine Raw has taken over as head of the strategy and development team. Picture: AFP

As speculation continues over the next step in BHP’s $40.5bn pursuit of Anglo American assets, one interesting development is that BHP has changed its head of mergers and acquisitions.

It seems an odd time for a new executive to be taking the job.

Three days ago, Johan van Jaarsveld posted on LinkedIn that after eight years of running the strategy and development team at BHP, Catherine Raw was taking over.

Van Jaarsveld is now chief technical officer at BHP, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Under the changes were announced in December, Raw becomes chief development officer.

It’s a baptism of fire for the executive. Anglo American rejected BHP’s initial bid for the majority of its portfolio, creating expectations that the $215bn, Australian-listed BHP will return to the negotiating table with a higher offer.

The challenge, as widely discussed in the market, will be gaining support from the South African government.

It is a very complex offer, where BHP would buy only the assets it wants and return Anglo Platinum and the Kumba South Africa iron ore assets to Anglo American shareholders.

Then there’s Glencore, which many in the market think is the most likely interloper, because it’s not scared of buying assets in South Africa along with diamond mines.

But it has only just bought Canadian coking coal miner Teck Resources and there are doubts as to whether it can deal as well with copper exposure.

Rio Tinto is seen as a more unlikely rival.

BHP shareholders have been nervous about whether the world’s largest listed miner will make money out of the deal and whether it will be accretive.

However, the understanding is that one competitive advantage for BHP is cutting edge technology for extracting copper from ageing mines that fit the profile of the Anglo American assets.