November 21, 2008

BHPB bid for Rio – Chinese mills too slow to take stake

Reuters reported that China's state owned steel mills had considered taking a spoiling stake in Rio Tinto to block a bid by BHP Billiton, but abandoned the plan after Aluminum Corp of China beat them to the punch.

Mr Deng Qilin head of Wuhan Iron and Steel Group and its listed unit said the China Iron and Steel Association had tried to arrange a similar move by its member mills late in 2007, but the state owned mills were unable to coordinate a purchase and get Beijing's approval quickly enough. He said "Before Chinalco bought in there was that thought, but it's like a long distance race. The one who races ahead gets the prize."

Mr Deng Qilin said "Everything happened so fast at the end of the year. A state-owned enterprise is not a joint venture or a private company; an SOE is controlled by the state and its decision-making process is relatively slow. He said I don't see any further moves by other Chinese companies at the moment. At the moment there are no plans. He added that the CISA plan was complicated because no single steel mill would have been able to make the investment by itself and none could act independently.”

Mr Deng Qilin said "If an SOE wants to invest a few million yuan, or a billion it can decide for itself. But this would have been over CNY 100 billion and would have needed government approval. It was a long process, and it wasn't so easy. He said I think they will succeed as this is a commercial move."

The report added that Chinalco and Alcoa stunned markets by scooping up 12% of Rio Tinto's London listed shares in late January, forcing BHP to raise its offer for the rival Anglo Australian miner. Rio says the BHP offer is still too low.