News In Review

18th February - 4th March

  • Published 05 Mar 2009

China pushes to snap up Australian resources, the US and China agree to hold defence talks, Hilary Clinton sweeps human-rights issue under the carpet, more stimulus measures to support China's industry, more banking measures to ease loans, and yet more growth stimulus measures expected to come at National People's Congress.

Australian resource grabChina continued its push to snap up stakes in Australian mining and resources giants suffering from funding difficulties and slumping stock-market valuations. Chinese state-owned aluminium producer Chinalco lobbied to Australian regulators and politicians to pass a proposed $19.5bn (Rmb 133.56bn, €15.54bn, £13.9bn) investment in Rio Tinto, which is dual-listed in the UK and Australia. Xiong Weiping, officially appointed as president of Chinalco on February 26, attempted to quash fears that the deal would give Chinalco control over strategic Australian resources and influence over commodity pricing. According to Xiong, Chinalco’s intention is to “ensure the liquidity of the assets” and “maximise the value of the portfolio of assets”. He also added that, although the group’s current objective is to complete the Rio Tinto deal, it was also looking at potential investments in other Australian miners. This followed a proposed A$2.4bn (Rmb 10.5bn, $1.53bn, €1.22bn, £1.1bn) takeover offer by Minmetals, another Chinese state-controlled metals and mineral trading company, of struggling zinc and copper producer Oz Minerals. China’s Hunan Valin has also agreed to buy a 16.5% stake in another Australian miner, Fortescue Metals Group, for A$858m. All three proposed purchases await approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board.

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