Vale mulls run at Xstrata

Vancouver – Ambitious growth plans sees Brazilian mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO-N) evaluating a possible takeover offer for Swiss-based Xstrata (XSRAF-O, XTA-L).

Vale recently made the announcement it’s having a look at potential acquisition targets – specifically mentioning it has held talks with Xstrata – and that it has also commenced dialogue with financial institutions for backing should it proceed on a particular takeover target.

If such a takeover were to occur the deal would be worth around US$60 billion – making it one of the largest mining acquisitions to date.

In early 2007 Vale closed its acquisition of Canadian nickel giant Inco while in the prior year Xstrata picked up Canada’s other major nickel producer Falconbridge.