The board of Canadian miner Teck Resources is under pressure to delay next week's shareholders meeting to vote on its proposed separation plan that will split its base metals and steelmaking coal businesses, analysts said on Wednesday.

Deutsche Bank Research said in a note that there was pressure on the Teck board to postpone the April 26 shareholder meeting and to consider alternative options, including Glencore's $23-billion proposal.

Although no other majors have publicly expressed interest, news reports have mentioned several different companies that may be interested.

Toronto-based Waratah Capital Advisers, which held 2.34-million Class B subordinated voting shares, confirmed on Wednesday that it had voted against Teck’s spin-off of its coal business, but for the proposed six-year sunset for the multiple voting rights attached to the Class A common shares.

Waratah’s vote against the separation and for the sunset is consistent with recommendations by proxy advisers Glass Lewis and ISS.

The fund manager said the proposed separation was an “unnecessarily complex” break of the two proposed entities, as they would remain highly intertwined for the next several years.

“Given the unsolicited Glencore bid for Teck, we strongly believe that a more fulsome strategic review needs to be conducted by Teck and the board of directors,” said Waratah.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank noted that Teck could further tweak its separation terms ahead of the vote. Last week, Teck adjusted the terms of the EVR separation, shortening the royalty period.

A GlenTeck merger would create two industry leaders, with unrivalled scale, diversification and growth options. This should lead to higher returns through the cycle and improved multiples versus both companies’ current standalone valuations and compared with Teck’s own separation plan, Deutsche Bank said.

“While Teck's plan is to also spin out its coal assets, the proposed capital structures are far from optimal; 90% of coal FCFs will be funnelled away from equity shareholders and metals will remain financially tied to coal. The dual class share structure (and effective blocking rights of A class shareholders) will also persist for a number of years and we do not think future potential offers for Teck could provide much better 'pro Canada' terms than Glencore’s proposal,” said the bank’s analysts.

Deutsche Bank further stated that Teck shareholders deserved a premium to reflect the asset quality and growth potential and that Glencore could justify a premium of about 40%.

Glencore CEO Gary Nagle on Wednesday hinted at the prospect of an improved proposal for Teck in a bid to sway shareholders ahead of next week’s meeting.

Nagle said in an open letter to Teck Class B shareholders that it would consider taking its offer hostile if Teck’s board continued to refuse to engage, and if the separation plan did not go ahead.

Teck CEO Jonathan Price has dismissed Glencore's open letter as an attempt to frustrate its separation plans.