China To Continue To Drive Mining Consolidation

Chinese companies are making takeover bids for mining companies in Australia and Canada, highlighting the country's growing demand for resources amid a separate takeover battle that could yield the industry's biggest merger ever.

Midwest Corp., an iron-ore developer in Perth, Australia, that is fending off a bid from an Australian rival, said Friday it received a nonbinding takeover proposal from Sinosteel Corp., a Chinese-government-owned resources-trading house. The proposal values Midwest at 1.2 billion Australian dollars (US$1.05 billion), it said. A Sinosteel spokesman declined to comment.

Separately, Northern Peru Copper Corp., a mining company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, said it received a 455 million-Canadian-dollar (US$450.8 million) takeover bid from a pair of Chinese-government companies, China Minmetals Non-ferrous Metals Co. and Jiangxi Copper Co. Northern Peru Copper, in a statement late Thursday, said it supported the bid. A Minmetals spokesman declined to comment. Jiangxi Copper officials couldn't be reached.

The acquisition attempts come amid BHP Billiton Ltd.'s far-larger bid to acquire rival Rio Tinto PLC with a proposal valued at more than US$130 billion. Rio is resisting the BHP proposal, whose price it says is too low. But the prospect of a tie-up has worried executives and government officials in China, which is among the world's biggest consumers of iron ore and other minerals. They fear a union could lead to greater leverage for suppliers and, therefore, higher prices.

Executives in China's steel industry and other sectors have been weighing possible options in response to the BHP move. One possible step, Chinese analysts say, is to step up China's overseas acquisitions efforts, to lock up as much as possible the world's relatively few remaining deposits of mineral and other resources.

Even before the BHP move, China's mining companies had started spreading their wings overseas, much as the country's oil companies started doing a few years ago. In June, for example, state-owned Aluminum Corp. of China agreed to buy Peru Copper Inc., another Canadian miner, in a deal valued at US$757.5 million, according to Thomson Financial.

Australia's Midwest said the proposal it received from Sinosteel is incomplete, nonbinding and conditional, and that 'there is no certainty' the proposal will lead to a transaction. Sinosteel proposed paying cash for all Midwest's shares at A$5.60 each, a premium of about 15% to its current market price and higher than an earlier bid from Murchison Metals Ltd., of Australia. In trading that closed before the Sinosteel announcement Friday, Midwest shares climbed 2.1% to A$4.85, after surging 13% Thursday.

Northern Peru Copper said in its statement that the offer it received from Minmetals and Jiangxi Copper was to pay cash for all its shares at C$13.75 each, which it said represents a 21% premium to their closing price Dec. 5. Northern Peru Copper said details of the offer would be sent to shareholders later this month.

The BHP effort to buy Rio has also triggered speculation that China could make a counterbid for Rio, even though such a bid -- which could require $200 billion or more -- would be extremely difficult for Chinese companies to mount. On Tuesday, a Chinese newspaper cited the chairman of Baosteel Group Corp., China's biggest steel producer by output, as saying his company was likely to bid for Rio.

Baosteel executives had privately dismissed the report earlier, and on Friday, Baosteel issued its first formal denial, saying it has no plans to make a bid. The company did say it is 'is closely watching, following and evaluating the development' of the takeover effort.

当全球矿业或将见证一场迄今规模最大的并购交易之时，中国公司正试图将澳大利亚和加拿大采矿企业纳入囊中，由此可见这个国家对自然资源的需求正不断攀升。

澳大利亚珀斯的铁矿石开采企业Midwest Corp.上周五宣布，公司接获了中国中钢集团(Sinosteel Corp.)的无约束力收购要约，交易报价12亿澳元（合10.5亿美元）。Midwest Corp.目前正在抵制另外一家澳大利亚同业对手Murchison Metals Ltd.的收购。中钢集团是中国一家国有的战略资源贸易公司，该集团发言人拒绝对此事置评。

此外，加拿大大不列颠哥伦比亚省温哥华的矿业公司Northern Peru Copper Corp.也宣布获得了中国五矿有色金属股份有限公司(China Minmetals Non-ferrous Metals Co.)和江西铜业股份有限公司(Jiangxi Copper Co. Ltd.)联合提交的收购要约。Northern Peru Copper Corp.上周四晚间发布声明称，公司支持此项收购。五矿公司的发言人拒绝对此事置评，而记者无法联络到江西铜业的负责人。

就在上述并购意向披露前不久，必和必拓(BHP Billiton Ltd.)向力拓股份有限公司(Rio Tinto Plc)发出了开价超过1,300亿美元的收购提议。虽然力拓以报价过低为由予以了反对，但对中国这个在铁矿石及其他矿产资产消费中居于全球前列的国家而言，力拓与必和必拓联姻的前景已经让其企业高管和政府官员感到坐立不安了。他们担心两强联合将进一步提升铁矿石供应方的议价能力，进而抬高铁矿石价格。

中国钢铁业及其他行业的高管们一直在权衡各种可行措施，来应对必和必拓对力拓的收购。中国的分析师表示，办法之一就是中国加大在海外的收购力度，将全球已然相对所剩无几的矿藏及其他自然资源尽可能地掌握在自己手中。

在必和必拓收购案曝光之前，中国矿业企业已将触角伸向了海外，与数年前的中国石油企业如出一辙。例如，中国铝业公司(Aluminum Corp. of China)于今年6月收购了秘鲁铜业公司(Peru Copper Inc.)，据Thomson Financial称，交易作价7.575亿美元。

Midwest Corp.表示，中钢集团的收购要约内容不完全，不具约束力，并附有条件，因此“不能肯定”交易会落实。中钢集团提出以现金方式收购Midwest Corp.全部股份，收购价为每股5.60澳元，较Midwest Corp.目前的股价溢价15%，并高于此前另一家澳大利亚企业Murchison Metals的出价。Midwest Corp.的股票在上周五消息公布前收于4.85澳元，涨幅2.1%，而上周四该股曾飙升了13%。

Northern Peru Copper在声明中称，五矿公司和江西铜业提出以现金方式收购公司所有股份，收购价为每股13.75加元，较公司股票在12月5日的收盘价高出了21%。Northern Peru Copper表示，将于本月晚些时候向股东公开所有的细节。

实际上，必和必拓对力拓的收购提议也引发了市场对中国或会参与竞购力拓的猜测之声；不过鉴于交易金额可能要达到2,000亿美元甚至更多，中国企业要拿出这笔钱难度非常大。上周二有中国报纸引述中国最大的钢铁企业──宝山钢铁集团(Baosteel Group Corp.)董事长的话称，宝钢集团可能会参与竞购力拓。

不过宝钢集团的管理人士在非公开场合对此报导予以了否认，而且上周五该集团首次发表声明，正式否认了其有参与竞购力拓的打算。但宝钢集团表示，将密切关注、跟踪和评估势态的发展。

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