News: BHP UPDATE 1-BHP won't match Wyloo's takeover offer for Canadian nickel miner Noront

• Noront agrees to Wyloo's C$1.10 per share cash offer
• BHP does not see 'adequate long-term value' to raise its offer
• Wyloo to help cover Noront's termination fee to BHP with a loan

(Rewrites with BHP's response and further background)

Dec 21 (Reuters) - BHP Group (BHP) said on Tuesday it would not match a takeover offer by billionaire Andrew Forrest's Wyloo Metals for Noront Resources Ltd NOT.V , essentially bowing out from a months-long tussle for the Canadian nickel miner.

The world's largest listed miner said it did not see "adequate long-term value" in raising its C$0.75 a share bid to match Wyloo's C$1.10 cash offer that Noront agreed to hours earlier.

The latest offer by Wyloo, made last week, values Noront at C$616.9 million ($477.07 million).

Wyloo, Noront's largest shareholder, has been locked in a takeover battle with BHP since the summer as both miners vie to secure supply of the key battery metal used in electric vehicles.

The two even began talks with each other in November to make an arrangement, but those discussions ended this month with no agreement.

Both the companies are eying Noront's Eagle Nest nickel asset in Canada's so-called Ring of Fire, a high-grade deposit of the metal, as well as copper and palladium.

"While the Eagle's Nest deposit is a promising resource, we do not see adequate long-term value for BHP shareholders to support an increase in BHP's offer," BHP's Chief Development Officer Johan van Jaarsveld said in a statement.

Wyloo will provide Noront a loan of C$29.4 million to help cover the C$17.8 million termination fee it owes BHP, the Canadian company said in a separate statement. ($1 = 1.2931 Canadian dollars)