my silly brother, page-10

You must be joking refering to the merger of Billiton and BHP as some sort of success for Australian enterprise.

Billiton shareholders got 42% of the new BHPB shares, but the former assets of Billiton only provide about 25% or less of its current revenue and profits.

I've just re-read my post and don't see where I commented on the wisdom or otherwise on BHP's activities.

You say the London based Billiton shareholders got 42% of BHP in the swap and as BHP has 44% weighting in the ASX 100 materials index, this one transaction diluted Australian ownership by 20%.

I just don't know what that 87% means if netted out: Australian assets O/S minus O/S ownership of Australian assets. I too rankle at Xtrata stealing MIM, but if the locals didn't value it enough to want to own it, we cant really complain, can we? Bob's attacks just make it less likely that locals will buy into miners.