OzMinerals' stock has topped the ASX 200 on Friday, after the company revealed a final offer from BHP that values it at $9.6 billion.
BHP and the local mining company focused on copper, nickel and cobalt have been locked in talks that have seen other offers rejected.
OzMinerals on Friday morning told the ASX about an improved offer that works out to $28.25 per share.
It said it intends to unanimously recommend this offer to shareholders.
"This offer price represents the best and final price BHP is willing to offer under the Revised Proposal, in the absence of a competing proposal."
The Adelaide-based company has benefited from the increasing demand in minerals needed in renewable energy materials, such as batteries and solar panels.
OzMinerals had been in a trading halt as negotiation rumours circled.
On Friday, OzMinerals went back into trading and gained on open.
It was up 3.8 per cent by 10:30am AEDT and ended the day up 4 per cent, which made it the ASX 200's top performing stock on Friday.
Other top performers included NIB Holdings (3.2 per cent) and Seven Group (3.1pc).
Seven out of the 11 sectors were in the green. Despite OzMinerals' gain, energy stocks as a whole ended the day in the red.
Telco, utilities and industrial were the top-performing indices, with gains of more than 0.8 per cent each.
Overall, the ASX 200 ended Friday 0.2 per cent higher to 7,152 points, which took it virtually back to where it started the week.
The Australian market had been earlier shaping up for a lacklustre Friday, with ASX 200 futures down 0.15 per cent at 7am AEDT.
However, by 8am AEDT, the prospects had turned around, as Wall Street recovered in late trade.
Wall Street had been experiencing heavy losses of almost 1 per cent, however it turned around at close.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.4 per cent, while the S&P 500 was down 0.3 per cent and the Nasdaq basically finished flat.
This was as the US Federal Reserve's president, James Bullard, delivered comments about how the central bank still had work to do to bring inflation under control.
As here in Australia, price hikes are still haunting the US economy, and policymakers there are using rate hikes to try to cool the economy.
"Markets focused on comments from Fed officials who made it clear they would continue to fight inflation, noting that rates may have to lift more than previously thought," ANZ noted in a briefing note today.
"St Louis Fed President James Bullard said rates may need to rise to within a 5 to 7 per cent range. These comments triggered a fall in equity markets, Treasury yields lifted and the US dollar strengthened.
"The yield on the US 10 year government bond lifted 9 basis points to 3.78 per cent."
Oil prices and gold also fell.
More to come.
