Reportedly, China has drafted three plans to act against BHP
Billiton's acquisition of Rio Tinto in order to protect the
interests of Chinese steel companies. Jia Liangqun, a veteran
analyst in the steel industry, said that Chinese top governmental
officials and the steel companies have reached a consensus to act
against the merger.
As for the three plans, plan A is that the domestic steel
enterprises form a consortium to bid for Rio Tinto; plan B is to
collaborate with foreign ventures to bid for the company; plan C is
to buy the shares of Rio Tinto in the overseas secondary markets
and use leverage presence in the company to block the merger.
In addition, it is reported that China International Capital
Corporation Limited (CICC) and BOC International (China) Limited
(BOCI China) have been engaged as bidding consultants at the
request of the Chinese steel companies. But neither CICC nor BOCI
China has confirmed the information.
Another report reveals that China is likely to take political
measures by appealing to the anti-monopoly departments of the UK
and Australia to block the merger.
For more details, please read the full story in Chinese. (
http://www.dfdaily.com/node2/node27/node120/userobject1ai48393.shtml)
(China.org.cn December 25, 2007)
