Turbo221 on Stockhouse (Canadian chat forum) has suggested that the company (or one of the companies) involved in the takeover of Grande Cache Coal will be in Hinton today for a “tour” of Coalspur. If that is correct, by my reckoning this would be Marubeni who have teamed with Winsway Coking Coal Holdings to launch a $1 billion takeover of Grande Cache.
A little research puts things into prospective. Marubeni are a Sogo Shosha or Japanese General Trading Company. The seven largest are Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui & Co., ITOCHU, Sumitomo Corporation, Marubeni, Toyota Tsusho and Sojitz. These names are all synonymous with coal JV projects and consortiums in Australia.
The below is taken from the internet
“These Japanese trading companies (e.g. Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Marubeni, or Sumitomo) handle the importing, exporting, and trading of over 20,000 items-including metals, machinery, energy, chemicals, textiles, foodstuffs, and general merchandise. The Sogo Shosha are actively involved in raw materials extraction, creation, and discovery, through multiple stages of production, fabrication, and distribution, downstream to the end user. The Sogo Shosha is certainly a unique business enterprise; they are traders, developers, merchant bankers, shippers, marketers, and distributors all rolled into one. The Sogo Shosha are highly involved in the coal production, with significant shares in Australian mining operation, in the transportation as they have big shippers as sister companies, and the marketing. They are an example of a highly vertically integrated organization in the coal industry”.
I am sure David Murray, who was previously President of BHP Billiton Energy Coal Division and CEO of BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance Coal, has had plenty of experience in dealing with the Sogo Shoshas’ and I am sure they are all aware of the strategic benefits a slice of North America’s largest export thermal coal project offers in terms of scale, quality, growth through to the 850km shipping advantage from Prince Rupert to Tokyo provides.
DYOR
Regards Danash
CPL Price at posting:
$1.62 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)