Advisory firm Glass Lewis said Teck Resources Ltd TECK-BT shareholders should vote against Teck’s plan to spin off its coal business, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday.
Glass Lewis and Teck did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The move follows another influential proxy adviser, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which also advised shareholders to reject Teck’s restructuring plan this week.
Controlling Teck shareholder Keevil will not exercise veto power to block the sale of Teck Metals to foreign buyers
Teck is in the midst of a takeover battle with Swiss miner Glencore PLC GLNCY, which has offered Teck’s shareholders 24% of the combined metals group and up to $8.2 billion in cash for those who may not want exposure to thermal coal.
The takeover would involve combining and spinning off the thermal and steelmaking coal businesses of both companies.
Teck has rejected the offer and made changes to its own proposed restructuring plan to allow for a potentially shorter path to completely separate the copper and zinc business of Teck Metals from the steelmaking coal of Elk Valley business.
The revised plan would include measures to cap annual capital spending by the coal business at $1.3 billion and reduce the minimum term of the royalty paid by Teck Metals to three years from 5.5 years.
A vote on Teck’s own plan is scheduled for April 26.
Glencore has declined to comment, but has previously said there are flaws in Teck’s own spinoff plan because it would leave the metal unit still exposed to coal revenue.
