Two years after rejecting Glencore Plc’s $23 billion takeover bid, Teck Resources founder Norman Keevil Jr. is backing a very different kind of deal — a $60 billion merger with Anglo American Plc that places Europe at the heart of a new global copper powerhouse.
For Keevil, now 87, the priority wasn’t price but legacy. Unlike Glencore’s hostile offer with a 20% premium, the Anglo deal is a zero-premium merger that preserves Teck’s name, leadership, and Canadian headquarters. Keevil insisted the agreement be structured as a merger rather than a takeover, securing Vancouver as the global operating base.
With his controlling stake due to wind down by 2029, Keevil moved quickly to shape Teck’s future while he still had influence. “The longer Norm waited, the less ability he would have to shape it,” said Pierre Gratton of the Mining Association of Canada.
The companies pledged C$4.5 billion ($3.3 billion) of investment in Canada over five years, which British Columbia Premier David Eby hailed as “a home run.”
Keevil’s career has been defined by protecting Teck from foreign takeovers. Since joining his father in the 1960s, he transformed the company through landmark deals such as the 2001 Cominco merger and the $13.8 billion acquisition of Fording Canadian Coal Trust. Yet he never wavered on one point: Teck should remain Canadian.
Now, with Anglo American’s European base and Teck’s Canadian roots, the combined company aims to become a top-tier copper producer — one positioned to meet surging global demand while preserving Keevil’s vision of a Canadian-anchored mining champion.
