Vedanta, the London-listed Indian miner, suffered a blow to its $2.1bn planned takeover of Asarco, the bankrupt US copper miner, when a Texas judge recommended a rival bidder, Grupo Mexico, as the company better suited to pay off Asarco’s creditors promptly.

Late on August 31 Judge Richard Schmidt, a US bankruptcy court judge, sent his recommendation to the Texas district court that will ultimately decide who buys Asarco. This recommendation is not binding, but specialist court rulings are often followed by the federal courts to which the cases are referred.