BHP gives up on pounds 45bn Rio Tinto bid; Economic chaos brings nine-month chase to an end amid Chinese relief IN ASSOCIATION WITH Rensburg Sheppards.Byline: BY GRAEME EVANS Daily Post Correspondent GLOBAL resources giant BHP Billiton BHP Billiton is the world's largest mining company.[1] Its origin is in the 2001 merger of Australia's Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) and the UK's Billiton, which has a South African background. The result is a dual-listed company. yesterday blamed economic conditions and falling commodity prices for its decision to abandon a multi-billion dollar bid for rival Rio Tinto Rio Tinto may refer to:
Shares in London-listed Rio slid by more than a third, while BHP Billiton jumped 15% after the Melbournebased company said it believed the takeover proposal was no longer in the best interests of its shareholders. BHP BHP blood hydrostatic pressure; the pressure exerted by the blood cells and plasma in the capillaries. launched its all-share bid for Rio in February, but with falling share prices the value of the hostile approach fell to EUR EUR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Euro. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 68bn (pounds 45.4bn). Chairman Don Argus Don Argus is an Australian businessman, and the current chairman of BHP Billiton and Brambles. Argus spent much of his early career in the banking industry. He was the general manager of products and service at the National Australia Bank (NAB) having being at the bank since said the downturn made the deal too risky, even though the company had not changed its mind about the "basic industrial logic" of combining the companies or the long term prospects for demand for natural resources. He said: "We have concerns about the continued deterioration of near-term global conditions, the lack of any certainty as to the time it will take for conditions to improve, and the risks that these issues imply for shareholder value." BHP also said it was likely that the European Commission would require it to sell some iron ore and coal assets before it would approve the deal. That prospect also unnerved BHP as it faced having to sell assets within a required time frame and during difficult economic conditions. Rio and BHP are the world's second and thirdlargest iron ore producers respectively. The Chinese had expressed concern that a tie-up would create a monopoly in iron ore on which China, the world's largest steel producer, is heavily reliant. Evolution Securities analyst Charles Cooper said BHP's withdrawal was unlikely to come as a surprise, given the current turmoil and increasing likelihood of a global economic recession. "Furthermore, the combined entity would have had significant control over the iron ore and metallurgical coal markets, and proposals from the European Commission would have resulted in divestment of these assets that would have damaged the financial viability of the deal," he added. BHP said it would write off EURA450m (pounds 190.8m) in costs connected to the bid. |
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