BHP and Rio Tinto

Well I guess BHP Billiton is getting somewhat impatient – after waiting for the board at Rio Tinto to come into line – they have decided to initiate a “hostile: takeover – this is a landmark USD$147 million deal. If successful, it would be one of the largest cross-border takeovers in history and would create a global mining behemoth.

The legalities of this – lie in the details and the fact we are talking about three different stock exchanges, Australia, the UK and the USA – with two separate companies on each side – two based in Australia and two based in the UK – complicated – Yes – but for $147 billion – did you expect a walk in the park. Wouldn’t it be less costly for Rio Tinto to accept the inevitable and stop wasting money – I wonder why they are not wanting to play ball – are there sound business reasons as they say or is it Testosterone?

The link to the actual NY Times article is here – The Wonderful Complexity of BHP-Rio Tinto

This can be complicated further because China and perhaps Japan – will be in the mix – to ensure the best deals for their respective countries..

I still think it will happen ! When could be the presiding factor – it is starting to become a game of attrition to see who has the preponderance of angst to wear the other down – starting to sound like Hillary and Obama.

Tags: Business,+Mining