(Adds background, analyst comment.)
MUMBAI -(Dow Jones)- India's Sterlite Industries Ltd. (500900.BY) said Thursday it has raised its offer price for U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC by about $500 million, raising the stakes in a bidding war with Grupo Mexico SAB (GMEXICO.MX).
Sterlite, a subsidiary of London-listed Vedanta Resources PLC (VED.LN), upped its bid to about $2.1 billion in cash and a $207.9 million copper price participation note, the companies said in a statement.
The move follows an announcement by Grupo Mexico Monday saying it would raise its offer to buy Asarco out of bankruptcy to $2.2 billion in cash plus a $280 million note, an increase of about $500 million over its previous offer.
"I have strong expectations that there could be another round of bidding, with Grupo Mexico and Sterlite coming back with fresh offers, sweetening their earlier deals," said Amit Kasat, analyst with Anand Rathi Securities.
Grupo Mexico, which owns but doesn't control Asarco, has been trying to defeat the proposed Vedanta sale and regain control of Asarco.
Asarco, an integrated miner, smelter and refiner of copper, is operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Sterlite's previous offer was for $1.58 billion in cash plus a $200 million note with a present value of $83 million. The deal is backed by key creditor groups and Asarco's union.
The Vedanta unit in 2008 had offered $2.6 billion for Asarco but walked away from the deal as copper prices collapsed. In March it returned with a $1.7 billion proposal but has since had to raise its bid as it battles with Grupo Mexico.
Sterlite's latest bid looks attractive at the current copper price of $5,500-$6,000 a metric ton, Kasat added. "The bidding for Asarco is essentially a play on copper prices. Whether any bid makes economic sense depends on how copper prices behave in the next six months," Kasat said.
Asarco's revenues last year were almost $1.9 billion and profit before tax was $393 million.
-By Ankur Relia; Dow Jones Newswires; 91-22-6145-6112; prasenjit.bhattacharya@dowjones.com
(Jeffrey Sparshott in London contributed to this article.)