Worth a read, especially the last paragraph, even though it still hurts that WNI got away with it.
Action to freeze Hanlong assets, restrict staff travel may reignite China tension DAVID FICKLING From: Dow Jones Newswires September 13, 2011 9:29AM
THE top executive of Chinese mining investor Hanlong Mining has been slapped with travel restrictions and had assets frozen as part of an investigation into insider trading relating to the company's $1.3 billion of planned investments in Sundance Resources and Bannerman Resources, Australia's securities regulator said today.
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission said the NSW Supreme Court had made interim orders preventing Hanlong managing director Steven Hui Xiao from leaving Australia before September 22, except for a visit to Hong Kong today and tomorrow.
The move to investigate Hanlong Mining could reignite tensions with China, Australia's largest trading partner and a key buyer of resources such as iron ore and coal. It comes just as the countries appeared to be smoothing relations after China's jailing of Australian national and Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu and three Chinese colleagues for bribery and stealing commercial secrets in March last year.
ASIC has also frozen the assets and restrained travel by Mr Xiao and Hanlong staff Calvin Zhu and Fan Zhang. Freezing orders were also made against Mr Xiao's wife, Xike Hu, FanFan Chen and Wingatta, which the regulator describes as an entity associated with Zhang.
The regulator said its investigation is at an early stage. Hanlong, a division of closely held Sichuan Hanlong, is also the majority shareholder in molybdenum miner Moly Mines.
Mr Zhu, speaking on behalf of Hanlong, said he was unable to comment, and ASIC offered no details of the concerns that sparked the investigation.
Hanlong in July offered $1.2bn to take over Sundance, which has an iron ore mining project on the borders of Cameroon and the Republic of Congo in central Africa. Hanlong already had 18.6 per cent of the company and was one of several parties in talks with Sundance about a possible joint venture over the project. Sundance said that the offer terms "do not provide adequate value or certainty to Sundance shareholders".
Bannerman, which is developing an uranium project in the southern African country of Namibia, also received a takeover offer from Hanlong in July, valuing the miner at $143.4 million. Bannerman was also in talks with potential joint-venture partners about developing its project.
It is not the first time that a Chinese entity looking at mining investments has been looked at by Australian regulators in recent months.
In February the country's Takeovers Panel considered, but ultimately rejected, a complaint by Brockman Resources that Wah Nam International Holdings was acting in concert with associated parties in relation to its takeover bid for the company. Wah Nam subsequently gained control of Brockman, and holds 55.33 per cent of voting shares.
BRM Price at posting:
$2.75 Sentiment: ST Buy Disclosure: Held
