Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, the world’s largest fertilizer maker, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in an effort to block a hostile US$38.6 billion takeover offer from mining company BHP Billiton.
In its request for an injunction against the takeover, Potash claimed that BHP’s offer was “built upon false and misleading statements and omissions” as well as BHP’s “manipulation of the perceived value” of the firm’s shares.
The management of Potash has opposed the BHP offer, arguing that it significantly undervalues its shares. Potash executives have said that they expect another bidder to materialize, although none has appeared.
The aggressive legal action by the company against BHP will probably increase pressure from shareholders for an alternative, higher bid. While there have been indications that state-owned chemical companies and investment funds in China might make an offer, the governments of Saskatchewan and Canada appear cool to the idea of turning over control of the province’s natural resources to China, which is the world’s largest potash importer.
Still, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said that Sinochem (中國中化), the state-run parent of the largest fertilizer distributor in China, had hired Deutsche Bank and Citigroup to advise it on a possible acquisition of a stake in Potash.
Ruban Yogarajah, a spokesman for BHP, said that the lawsuit was without merit.
“This lawsuit seems to be their answer to the absence of another bidder,” he said.
On Monday, BHP extended its deadline for Potash shareholders to accept its offer by one month after Canadian regulators requested more information.
Although Potash is based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the lawsuit was filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. William Doyle, the president and chief executive of Potash, lives near Chicago and maintains an office in Northbrook.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)