The past year or so has been quite the roller-coaster ride for investors in Peru Copper
Last year, a bid from Southern Copper
As an aside, I kind of feel like a middle-school gossip when talking about recent mining M&A: "Phelps Dodge liked Inco, but Inco just liked Phelps as a friend, and it went to the dance with Companhia Vale do Rio Doce
The drama came back into Peru Copper's life on May 24 when it announced that it had signed an exclusivity agreement, implying that a deal was forthcoming. That was enough to get the speculative juices flowing again, taking the shares back up to around $7. Well, a few days later, the agreement expired with no deal in place, and shares went ker-splash. Finally, along came Chinalco, the state-owned parent of Aluminum Corp. of China
While yesterday's buyout news may be a disappointment given the higher price some market participants seem to have expected, it may be something of a relief as well. I imagine a lot of that has to do with one's timing relative to the stock's bottoming out in late 2006. Regardless, there's little time to dwell on the matter -- it's on to the next deal speculation, with news out the very same day that activist fund Atticus Capital is seeking out deals for portfolio holding Freeport-McMoRan. Never a dull moment for the basic metals these days.
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Fool contributor Toby Shute doesn't own shares in any company mentioned. There's, like, nothing dull about The Motley Fool's disclosure policy.