中国がBHPビリトン株を密かに買い占めか
BHPビリトン、中国による同社株取得観測にコメントせず2008-04-09 09:02 メルボルン(ダウ・ジョーンズ)英豪系鉱業大手BHPビリトン(NYSE:BHP)は9日、中国が同社の株式を大量に購入する準備を進めているとの報道に対するコメントを控えた。 オーストラリアの新聞記事によると、匿名筋は中国当局がBHPの株式9%以上の買収を通じて鉱業大手による同業のリオ・ティント(NYSE:RTP)の買収提案を阻止しようとしている。中国は、大手同士の統合によって主要コモディティをめぐる価格設定力が強くなりすぎることについて危惧している。 「われわれは推測、投機についてコメントしない」とこの記事について問われた際にBHPビリトンの広報担当者は答えた。 今年初めには、国有の中国アルミ業公司(チナルコ)と米アルミ大手アルコア(NYSE:AA)がリオ・ティントの株式9%を取得している。この動きをめぐっては、BHPなどによるリオ・ティントのアルミ資産をめぐる買収戦を阻む狙いがある、とみなす市場観測者も出ている。 ABNアムロのアナリスト、ウォレン・エドニー氏は、中国勢による株式取得の可能性はあるが、10%-15%の持ち分がもたらす鉱業会社をめぐる影響力は小さいとしている。「製品販売価格の設定や進展のペースなどにおいて影響力を行使することはできない」とエドニー氏はいう。 また、取締役の任命権についても保証はなく、仮にこれを得た場合でも、(取締役は)中国の鉄鋼メーカーのみならず全株主の利害に基づいて意思決定を行うことが求められる、とエドニー氏は指摘した。 中国勢が株式取得に動く場合、BHPの鉄鋼、コークス炭の生産に関心をもつ鉄鋼メーカーの上海宝鋼集団(バオスチール)を介する可能性がある、と同氏は付け加えた。 - BHP Billiton Rises After Report China Will Buy Stake By Brett FoleyBHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company, rose the most in nine weeks in New York trading after The Australian newspaper reported that China will buy a stake. China is in the early stages of planning to buy a bigger stake in BHP than the 9 percent of Rio Tinto Group acquired by state-owned Aluminum Corp. of China and U.S. aluminum producer Alcoa Inc., the newspaper said today, citing unidentified people in Beijing. China's steel industry is the world's largest consumer of iron ore, which Melbourne-based BHP mines in Western Australia. BHP made a $156 billion hostile bid for Rio in February that would create a company controlling more than a third of the world's iron-ore supply and vie with Brazil's Cia. Vale do Rio Doce as the largest producer. ``If Chinalco was allowed to buy a stake in Rio, I don't see why they couldn't get a similar amount of BHP,'' Richard Knights, an analyst at Numis Securities in London, said today by phone. `` They wouldn't be doing it if they didn't think at some point they could assert some kind of influence.'' BHP's American depositary receipts, each representing two ordinary shares, climbed $3.93, or 5.2 percent, to $79 at 4:15 p.m. in New York, the biggest gain since Feb. 1. Earlier, the stock advanced 77 pence, or 4.6 percent, to 1,762 pence on the London Stock Exchange. Illtud Harri, a London-based spokesman for BHP, and Rio spokesman Nick Cobban, both declined to comment. Zhao Shangsen, an official at the Chinese Embassy in London, said the embassy couldn't comment on the report. Regulatory Approval Rio, which is based in London, rejected BHP's offer on Feb. 6, saying it ``significantly'' undervalued the company. BHP is due later this month to lodge its application for the deal to be cleared by European Union antitrust regulators. The price of iron ore has risen to a record for a sixth straight year. In February, Vale won a 71 percent increase for ore from its Carajas mine from Nippon Steel Corp., JFE Holdings Inc., and Posco, Asia's three largest steelmakers. The raw material accounts for 13 percent of BHP's fiscal 2007 sales. Coking coal, another material used to make steel, has tripled. China is also the largest user of aluminum, which accounted for 15 percent of the company's revenue, and coal. Rio and BHP, the second and third-largest iron-ore exporters, are still in talks with Asian steelmakers for 2008 contracts. The steel companies are resisting Rio's demand for a so-called ``freight premium'' to reflect the lower cost for Asian customers of shipping ore from Australia rather than Brazil.