bhp billiton preparing hostile bid for rio

This will be a extremly interesting week....for trading and for holding.... :))))

BHP Billiton 'preparing hostile bid for Rio Tinto'

BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, is preparing a hostile bid for peer Rio Tinto whose board has turned down a friendly approach worth billions of US US dollars, British newspapers said Sunday.

Amid moves for sector consolidation, one newspaper also reported that mining giant Xstrata was facing its own takeover battle.

"There's been no formal decision to go hostile (over Rio Tinto) but it looks increasingly like things will move that way," said The Sunday Telegraph, citing an adviser to BHP on the prospective bid.

The board of Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto has rebuffed last year's proposal by BHP to combine the world's third biggest and largest miners respectively, which would create a 350-billion--dollar behemoth, saying it did not reflect the group's real value.

BHP, which is also an Anglo-Australian company, has proposed three of its own shares for each Rio Tinto share and newspapers said Sunday that the firm would not increase the amount.

However it was likely to re-launch its offer, which would be seen by Rio as a hostile bid, they added.

Britain's Takeover Panel has ruled that BHP Billiton must make a firm offer for Rio Tinto by February 6. A refusal to do so would mean BHP having to wait six months before making any new proposal.

Another British weekly, The Observer, meanwhile reported that Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata could be about to face a bid from either Anglo American or Vale of Brazil.

"Only recently, bankers were boasting to me that the Xstrata deal was in the bag," said The Observer, citing "a well-placed source."

Mergers between miners are being seen as increasingly likely with the industry booming thanks to unprecedented demand for metals from China and India.

http://news.smh.com.au/bhp-billiton-preparing-hostile-bid-for-rio-tinto/20080121-1n2s.html