UBS sees metals, mining M&A but IPOs stall

LONDON (Reuters) - The outlook for mergers and acquisitions in the metals and mining industry is strong as emerging market players bulk up and competition for the earth's dwindling resources intensifies, a top sector banker said on Wednesday.

"On the M&A front, generally speaking, the credit situation looks pretty awful but there seems to be money for mining companies and partly that is because commodities prices are high and there is growing acceptance of the super-cycle theory," UBS's (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) joint global head of metals and mining Paul Knight said.

Miners could also borrow more easily than other companies because they had high earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization and low net debt, Knight told the Reuters global mining summit in London.

His view on the initial public offering market was more cautious. While plenty of companies are studying plans for share sales, particularly in Russia and China, they are on hold until equity markets stabilize.

Despite a global credit crunch that has decimated banks' ability to fund M&A, the metals and mining industry is in upheaval. In the forefront is the world's biggest miner, BHP Billiton (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), with its hostile bid for rival Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (RIO.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), an offer valued at $147.4 billion when launched last month.

On Wednesday, Kazakh mining group Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it is considering buying rival Kazakhmys (KAZ.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

The credit crisis may help spur consolidation because companies struggling with financing projects planned last year when liquidity was better may now need to find co-financing, or may become vulnerable to takeovers, Knight said.

As with other industries, companies were seeking financing from alternative lenders, such as local banks in large emerging markets or Middle Eastern investors, he said.

"There odd pools of capital that mining companies are tapping into," Knight said.

"We have seen Indian and Chinese and Brazilian banks which are less affected by this storm and a lot of them understand mining because their countries are involved."

The banker said Russia and China were likely to provide a lot of the M&A business as their industry players expand overseas.

He saw Democratic Republic of Congo as another important arena for potential deals, possibly later this year, as mining players jostle for position in the mineral-rich central African country.

"We could see movement - M&A and equity raising among companies that have interests in the Congo and companies that see Congo and Zambia as places with high quality reserves in a world where there aren't so many obvious high quality reserves," he said.

On IPOs, Knight said UBS had a healthy pipeline of candidates, mainly from Russia and China, earmarked for the fourth quarter.

He added that there were a couple of clients who might brave the market in the third quarter because they needed the capital urgently or were benefiting from high prices in a particularly strong commodity.

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)

(Reporting by Eleanor Wason; Editing by Erica Billingham)