Anglo-Australian mining group BHP Billiton led the charge last week with a £35 billion (US$54.4 billion) bid for Potash Corp of Canada.
Analysts say British companies in the takeover frame include television company ITV, targeted by NBC; BG, the gas and exploration group, which is being stalked by oil majors such as Shell; insurance company Prudential, a possible target for a break-up bid by Aviva and Resolution; miner Xstrata, which is being eyed by Swiss commodities group Glencore; AstraZeneca, the drugs company, which could attract interest from GlaxoSmithKline or European rivals; and the supermarket group Sainsbury, where the Qataris have built up a minority stake.
Potential counter-bidders for PotashCorp, such as Vale of Brazil and Chinese companies such as CIC (中國投資公司) and Sinochem (中國中化) were this weekend reviewing their options.
Banking sources say PotashCorp executives are “actively courting possible white knights” to save the firm from the clutches of BHP, headed by Marius Kloppers. Another option is to persuade a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund to buy a blocking stake.
The mining and resources sector is attracting a flurry of activity as firms seek to cash in on demand from Asia and South America.
“Predators are seeking to secure potentially lucrative supplies of minerals and oil as industrialization continues apace in emerging countries,” Charles Kernot at Evolution Securities said.
On Friday, British oil explorer Dana Petroleum found itself at the receiving end of a hostile £1.9 billion offer from South Korea’s state-owned KNOC.
Bloomberg published research showing that this month could be one of the busiest months for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) since the financial meltdown in the autumn of 2008. By the end of last week, proposed deals tabled over recent weeks topped US$175 billion.
Ian Richards, head of European equities strategy at RBS, said companies that had been hoarding cash during the recession were now willing to spend because “corporate cash flow is very high.”
Richards said attractive targets were likely to be firms with strong export potential and with exposure to emerging markets. He added that “the sweet spots” were mining and resources; industrial goods and services; personal household goods; and food and beverages.
However, Royal London Asset Management chief investment officer Robert Talbut said there was wariness about the ability of banks to provide credit lines and that doubts lingered about the strength of the recovery.
However, Andrew Milligan, head of global strategy at Standard Life, told Bloomberg he thought there would “another wave of M&A” and that “a robust trend” was beginning to emerge. Milligan does not believe there will be a double dip recession.
Paul Parker, head of global acquisitions at Barclays Capital, said cash on corporate balance sheets was at “historically high levels,” while other analysts point out that stock market valuations are relatively low, making target companies look cheap.
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUTION URGED: Xiaohongshu and Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok — are tools the Chinese government uses for its ‘united front’ propaganda, the MAC said Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) yesterday urged people who use Chinese social media platforms to be cautious of being influenced by Beijing’s “united front” propaganda and undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty. Chiu made the remarks in response to queries about Chinese academic Zhang Weiwei (張維為) saying that as young Taiwanese are fond of interacting on Chinese app Xiaohongshu (小紅書, known as RedNote in English), “after unification with China, it would be easier to govern Taiwan than Hong Kong.” Zhang is professor of international relations at Shanghai’s Fudan University and director of its China Institute. When giving a speech at China’s Wuhan
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese
RSS