BHP move to buy Anglo American threatens to hasten City exodus

Offer of 31bn could create world's biggest copper miner but attracts criticism from South African minister

The Australian mining company BHP has set out plans for a 31bn takeover of rival Anglo-American in a deal that threatens to hasten the exodus of Britain's largest firms from the City of London.

The proposed takeover of London-listed Anglo would rank as one of the biggest deals in the global mining industry in the last decade and comes as miners race to corner the market for copper, which is in high demand within the clean energy sector.