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.

The company's shares have fallen 38 per cent since it announced the acquisitions of Plains Exploration …