Will Vale try to tie the knot with Xstrata?

LONDON/JOHANNESBURG: Xstrata Plc's move to merge with Anglo American Plc may spur other offers and reignite interest from Vale SA, more than a year after the Brazilian company ended talks to create the world's largest mining group.

Xstrata's proposed 22.4 billion-pound ($36.5 billion) "merger of equals", which was rejected by London-based Anglo, seeks to combine coal, copper and zinc mines across Africa, Latin America and Australia. The bid may spur Vale into action, said mining analysts Nick Hatch at ING Groep NV in London and Paul Cliff at Nomura Securities Co Ltd.

Anglo said it rejected the approach because its assets were of much higher quality than Xstrata's and that the terms for a merger of equals was "totally unacceptable."