China’s Sinochem Corp (中化) confirmed it was in “early stage” talks with Nufarm Ltd, Australia’s biggest supplier of farm chemicals, about a potential takeover.
“These discussions are at a preliminary stage and incomplete and there is absolutely no certainty that matters will progress,” it said in an e-mailed statement from its public relations agency. “This is one of a range of potential growth opportunities that Sinochem is currently exploring.”
Buying Nufarm would expand Sinochem’s share of the market for herbicides and pesticides, extending the reach of China’s largest chemicals trader into Australia and the Americas as demand rebounds. Chinese companies, including Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco, 中國鋁業), have offered US$21 billion for Australian resource assets this year to take advantage of lower valuations in the recession.
“For China to sustain its spectacular growth longer term, it needs to secure raw materials from outside China,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage US$1 billion at Pengana Capital Ltd in Melbourne. “It’s built substantial reserves, and one way of securing internal growth is to ensure it doesn’t get caught in raw-material cost inflation.”
Nufarm confirmed on June 24 that it had been approached by Sinochem about a potential takeover. Its shares soared by the most in nine months in Sydney trading that day.
“The Nufarm board will consider any offer or proposal it receives having regard to all the alternatives available to the company,” the Melbourne-based company said in its statement on the same day.
“There is no certainty that any agreements will be reached or that an offer or proposal will be put to Nufarm shareholders,” Nufarm said.
Sinochem’s success depends on persuading Nufarm’s chief executive officer Doug Rathbone to sell his 11 percent stake in the company, enough to block a full takeover under Australian law. The Chinese company may offer between A$12 (US$9.81) and A$15 a share for Nufarm, said David Halliday, a trader at Macquarie Group Ltd.
Sinochem is seeking to buy overseas assets to counter slowing growth, general manager Liu Deshu (劉德樹) said in March.
“The valuations of these Australian companies right now makes them tempting,” Schroeders said. “The proximity of Australia to Asia is also a huge advantage for Chinese companies, as well as the Australian government’s relative willingness to welcome offshore investment.”
Chinese companies have had a mixed record in acquiring Australian assets. State-owned Chalco’s US$19.5 billion investment in Rio Tinto Group was rejected last month after Rio decided to seek a share sale and a joint venture with BHP Billiton Ltd. China Minmetals Group (五礦集團) had to revise a bid for assets of OZ Minerals Ltd after the Australian government ruled a mine was close to a weapons-testing range.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat