Jack, your 1st sentence hit it right on the nail. They are what...

Jack, your 1st sentence hit it right on the nail. They are what they are. Many Aussie investors in Australian companies have been seriously burnt by opportunistic and predatory Chinese suitors (invariably all state puppets doing Beijing's bidding).

The Chinese have demonstrated a consistent lack of business ethics, untrustworthiness and seemingly oblivious to rule-of-law in other jurisdictions...read on below.

I own Sundance Resources - SDL (a IO company with a massive strategic footprint straddling Cameroon/Congo - containing massive, low-cost, high grade IO resource that the Chinese in their own words boasted in their "state" media could allow them the leverage to break the "stranglehold" of RIO/BHP/Vale and give them a SAY in iron ore pricing negotiations in the future). Disastrously, the SDL board (having faith and trust in the Chinese) entered into a NO-TALK-NO-SHOP clause and was shackled in a CHINA-ONLY arrangement in late 2011 that the Chinese exploited...read on

HanLong is a so called "private" Chinese suitor acting as a puppet for the Communist State to carry out the acquisition - to bypass potential FIRB objection - it's an Australian company although the resource is in Africa - it still had to undergo a FIRB assessment on character ground).

HanLong is NO private company. They bought the original stake (from Talbot Enterprises - you may have heard of the tragic plane crash that wiped out the entire board in 2010) using money shoved in her pocket by the Chinese Development Bank (CDB) and will settle the remainder with CDB money. The Chinese government seeing this was already “in the bag” even got the Communist state’s companies China Rail to prepare building the infrastructure (rail & port). Unlike in Australia, where they can’t own infrastructure or buy tier-1 assets, with Sundance they can down the lot.

Recently, via the People's Daily the Chinese government mouth-piece in specific terms indicated STATE OWNED enterprises - which we now know Wuhan Iron & Steel is one - will elbow HanLong out of the driver's seat and take over (as the PRIVATE cover is no longer needed for disguise).

The takeover has been delayed by more than a year (mostly because the FIRB withheld the approval because the Chinese suitor - HanLong Australia committed insider trading profiting $$$ millions but was caught by ASIC in a sting - the company chief did a bolter back to China leaving his wife and kids behind and never came back to face court - he personally implicated HanLong for carrying out the crime - he is probably under house arrest somewhere in Shanghai as his return to Australia would certainly have torpedoed the deal - effectively China's hope in acquiring the asset). The FIRB eventually approved the deal with one of the HanLong employees being charged (playing the fall guy).

Prior to this the Chinese via a SIA committed to paying 57 cents per share. This was a legally binding agreement. The SDL board also issued an ASX release - a FAQ regarding the takeover - that under no circumstance could HanLong (effectively the Chinese government) lower the offer price.

Unfortunately because of the year long delay (due to Chinese insider trading crime committed on AUSTRALIAN SOIL benefiting from inside knowledge of China's acquisition of an AUSTRALIAN COMPANY - SDL), iron ore price took a "brief dive from $140 - $150/tonne" to about $86/t within a space of a few weeks late last year.

Retrospectively, this betrayal was committed due to the TECHNICAL de-stocking engineered by the Chinese to deplete inventory and "not buy for 2 months". The pause may partly have been due to the Communist Party leadership change. The Chinese buying strike was unsustainable - figuratively China held her breathe (steel mill inventory is now lowest in 2-3 years) - once buying started prices climbed back relentlessly. It's now about $160/t. Arguably this may have something to do with the cyclone off Port Hedland.

Now here's the betrayal, the Chinese in September suddenly reneged on the 57 cents bid and demanded a better price for themselves - lowering the bid to 45 cents - purely on the basis of falling IO prices due to temporary DESTOCKING - what ??.

With a No-Shop-No-Talk bind and running out of operating capital, the SDL board has no choice but yielded to the extortion. The vote for the revised bid is now happening on Feb 1st. Despite iron ore price having double – the moment China started buying again, the Chinese do NOT allow Sundance to revise the offer (TOO BAD YOU SIGNED). It would appear the only way we can recover the “lost money” that the Chinese looted in a moment of opportunism is if shareholders and hedge funds block the bid via a NO vote essentially forcing the Chinese to revise the bid or at least call the offer FINAL & FULL.

I also owned Brockman Resources, this is a great read: the story was told when the whole saga had yet to unfold; subsequently the Chinese (this time using a Limo company as a PRIVATE FRONT) destroyed the sp in the company systematically and snapped it up for a song.

http://tasmanianrealestatetrouble.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/great-iron-ore-swindle.html