Phelps Dodge Ball Deflates

There are more signs of trouble for Phelps Dodge's(PD Quote) ambitious $40 billion megadeal to acquire two Canadian nickel miners.

The Phoenix-based copper miner recently canceled a meeting with a group of Wall Street metals and commodities analysts in New York. People familiar with Phelps Dodge say the meeting was a canceled to allow top executives at the copper company to spend more time on the road selling the merger to an ever-growing crowd of skeptical institutional investors.

A Phelps Dodge spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Phelps Dodge is seen as facing an uphill struggle in convincing investors that the complicated three-way merger with nickel miners Inco(N Quote) and Falconbridge(FAL Quote) is a smart move. A number of Wall Street analysts, none of whom wanted to be identified, say the deal is meeting with a lot resistance from institutional investors and added that Phelps Dodge executives have their work cut out for them. ...