By Ernest Scheyder

(Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court has ruled that the federal government may give thousands of acres in Arizona to Rio Tinto Plc for a copper mine, upholding a lower court’s ruling and rejecting a request from Native Americans who said the land has religious and cultural import.

The 2-1 ruling from the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, issued late Friday night, essentially defers to a 2014 decision made by the U.S. Congress and then-President Barack Obama to give the land to Rio for its Resolution Copper project as part of a complex land swap deal.

Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group comprised of members of the San Carlos Apache tribe and others, said it would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Arizona dispute centers on the federally owned Oak Flat Campground, which some Apache consider home to deities and which sits atop a reserve of more than 40 billion pounds of copper. If a mine is built, it would create a crater 2 miles (3 km) wide and 1,000 feet (304 m) deep that would destroy that worship site.

Rio and minority partner BHP Group Plc have already spent more than $1 billion on the project without producing any copper.

While two judges said they were sensitive to Apaches’ religious concerns, they stressed their ruling was narrowly tailored to the question about whether the government can do what it wants with its own land and whether the land transfer would prevent Apaches from practicing their religion.

“As we reach this conclusion, we do not rejoice. Rather, we recognize the deep ties that the Apache have to Oak Flat,” the court said it its 58-page ruling. “This dispute must be resolved as are most others in our pluralistic nation: through the political process.”

The dissenting judge said it was “absurd” and “illogical” to think the land swap would not impede Apaches’ religious rights.

A bill under consideration in the U.S. Congress would undo the 2014 land swap, though its fate is unclear. President Joe Biden took steps to pause the land swap last year, though he has few options to delay it indefinitely.

“All the evidence suggests that the land exchange was meant to facilitate mineral exploration activities – nothing more and nothing less,” the court said in the ruling. The proposed mine project comes as demand jumps for copper to make electric vehicles (EVs) and other electronic devices.

Wendsler Nosie, one of the leaders of Apache Stronghold, denounced the decision. “My children, grandchildren, and the generations after them deserve to practice our traditions at Oak Flat,” he said.

Rio, which is based in Australia and Britain, said it would continue to talk with Apaches and others opposed to the mine. “There is significant local support for the project, however, we respect the views of groups who oppose it and will continue our efforts to understand, address and mitigate these concerns,” said Rio spokesperson Simon Letendre.

Mila Besich, the Democratic mayor of Superior, the town closest to the campground, and a supporter of the mine, said she was relieved by the ruling. “The 9th Circuit ruling provides further confirmation that the permitting must continue,” Besich said.

Representatives for BHP were not immediately available to comment. Terry Rambler, chairman of the San Carlos Apache tribe, was not immediately available to comment.

(Reporting by Ernest ScheyderEditing by Chizu Nomiyama)

By Pamela Barbaglia and Anirban Sen

LONDON/NEW YORK – Global dealmaking is entering an arid season as raging inflation and a stock market rout curb the appetite of many corporate boards to expand through acquisitions.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and fears that an economic recession is looming dealt a blow to merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the second quarter.

The value of announced deals dropped 25.5% year-on-year to $1 trillion, according to Dealogic data.

“Companies are standing back from M&A in the short term as they are more focused on the impact of a recession on their business. The timing for dealmaking will come but I don’t think it’s quite there yet,” said Alison Harding-Jones, Citigroup Inc’s EMEA M&A head.

M&A activity in the United States plunged 40% to $456 billion in the second quarter, while Asia Pacific was down 10%, Dealogic data showed.

Europe was the only region where dealmaking didn’t crash. Activity was up 6.5% in the quarter, largely driven by a frenzy of private equity deals, including a 58 billion euro ($61 billion) take-private bid by the Benetton family and U.S. buyout fund Blackstone for Italian infrastructure group Atlantia.

Proceeds from global listings were down 84% to $33 billion in the second quarter, according to Dealogic, with only 274 companies attempting to raise cash via an initial public offering (IPO) compared to 852 in the same quarter last year.

“We are nervous about the back half of the year but transactions are still happening,” said Mark Shafir, global co-head of M&A at Citigroup.

The largest deal of the quarter was Broadcom Inc’s $61-billion cash-and-stock buyout of VMWare Inc in the United States.

Others included Elon Musk’s proposed acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion and a move by India’s largest private lender HDFC Bank to buy out its biggest shareholder in a $40 billion deal to create a financial services titan to tap rising demand for credit.

With stock markets facing persistent turmoil, boardrooms are wary of making expensive bets.

“We are unlikely to see a large number of megadeals and buyouts getting done over the next couple of quarters. M&A is hard to do when companies are trading at a 52-week low,” said Marc Cooper, chief executive of U.S. advisory firm Solomon Partners.

Cross-border transaction volume dropped 25.5% in the first six months of the year. A traditional flurry of U.S. investments in Europe did not occur in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Philip Morris International Inc’s $16 billion bid for smaller rival Swedish Match was the only notable cross-border exception in a quarter dominated by domestic dealmaking.

“When you think about the psychology of executives and their level of confidence to make a leap across borders, you need to take into account the level of uncertainty in the world and how that impacts timing,” said Andre Kelleners, head of EMEA M&A at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

For an interactive version of the Reuters chart showing global M&A and private equity volumes in the second quarter click here: https://graphics.reuters.com/GLOBALQ2-REVIEW/dwpkrmjlnvm/Q2DEALS1.1.gif

Acquisition financing has become more expensive for companies as central banks have hiked interest rates to fight inflation.

Even those that have the cash to undertake a deal – or are using their shares as currency – find it hard to agree on price in choppy markets.

“Stock market volatility is a big headwind to strategic M&A. When you have stock market volatility, it’s tough to have value conversations and makes it hard to use stock as currency,” said Damien Zoubek, co-head of U.S. corporate practice and M&A at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

In Europe, sharp falls in the value of the euro and the pound made companies vulnerable to opportunistic overtures by private equity investors.

Buyout funds have been a major driver of global dealmaking, generating transactions worth $674 billion so far this year.

“Market dislocation offers a window of opportunity to private equity funds as valuations are coming down,” said Umberto Giacometti, co-head of Nomura’s EMEA financial sponsors group.

“There is lots of screening work under way on listed companies for both take-private deals and stake acquisitions in public companies. But without a price adjustment, activity cannot properly resume,” Giacometti said.

He predicted the average size of private equity deals will shrink as banks close the taps on financing and private credit funds become wary of signing big checks.

Going forward, dealmakers expect cross-border transactions between the United States and Europe to pick up eventually, on the back of a strong dollar and a widening gap between the valuation of U.S. and European companies.

“With a slightly elevated level of visibility than what we had earlier this year, you could expect capital flows to resume and deal activity to pick up, including on the financing side,” said Goldman’s Kelleners.

But caution prevails as companies are still seeking to sever their ties with Russia or limit their exposure to the region.

“Clients are increasingly looking inward rather than outward,” said Citigroup’s Harding-Jones.

($1 = 0.9508 euros)

(Reporting by Pamela Barbaglia in London and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Susan Fenton)

SHANGHAI – China’s securities regulator proposed rules to regulate private pension investment via mutual funds, setting the criteria for qualified products and sales agents under a scheme that will channel fresh savings into the country’s capital markets.

The draft rules, published by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) late on Friday, came after Beijing in April launched a milestone private pension scheme to tackle challenges of aging population.

Under the scheme, eligible Chinese citizens can buy mutual funds, savings deposits and insurance products via their own individual pension accounts, potentially boosting a pension market that has lured foreign asset managers including Fidelity International and BlackRock.

The proposed rules “have set a relatively high bar for products and institutions, and are designed to ensure safety of pension fund investment and protect investors’ interest,” the CSRC said in a statement on its website.

Initially, pension target funds with at least 50 million yuan ($7.48 million) of assets over the past four quarters are eligible under the pilot pension scheme, the CSRC said.

Other types of retail funds with clear investment strategies and good long-term track records will be gradually added to the eligibility list as the scheme expands, the CSRC said.

Currently, there are 91 pension target funds that meet the CSRC’s criteria, according to TF Securities.

In addition, fund managers and sales agents participating in private pension business must set up internal control systems, adopt long-term incentives, and ensure independent operation of the pension assets, according to the rules.

Independent consultancies estimate China’s private pension market will grow to at least $1.7 trillion by 2025, from $300 billion currently.

In 20 years, 28% of China’s population will be more than 60 years old, up from 10% today, making it one of the most rapidly-aging populations in the world, according to the World Health Organization.

($1 = 6.6878 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Brenda Goh; Editing by Nick Zieminski)