Crude price collapse leaves Freeport to rue oil & gas acquisitions

Toronto

INVESTORS were upset two years ago when Freeport-McMoRan Inc, the world's biggest publicly traded copper miner, announced a US$9 billion debt-fuelled purchase of two oil and natural gas producers. Turns out they were right to be.

At the time, the Phoenix-based company said that the deal would help it diversify, acting as a hedge for potential downturns in their main products, copper and gold. Now, all three commodities are facing drastically reduced prices, and Freeport is struggling to right itself.