Posts Tagged ‘foreign investment’

China – Lynas rare earth deal collapses

Friday, September 25th, 2009

China has ditched plans for a $500 million investment in rare earths company Lynas, after the conditions imposed by the Foreign Investment Review Board were found to be objectionable.

China Nonferrous Metal Mining Co (CNMC) had planned to increase its stake to 51.6%, however the FIRB required the ownership to be less than 50%, and the number of directors on the board to be less than half.

As a result, CNMC is walking away from the deal, leaving Lynas in a trading halt and reassuring the market that other funding sources are being finalised.

The FIRB director yesterday advised Chinese investors to talk to them first, and not use the media to lobby their proposals.

Lynas Corporation, ASX Code: LYC
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Tussle over rare earth minerals

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Australian regulators must soon decide on whether or not to check China’s increasing stranglehold on the rare earth minerals market.

China currently produces 93% of the world’s most rare and valuable elements, two of which are required for various green energy and military technologies.

In Australia, Lynas Corporation and Arafura Resources were ready to open mines last year which could account for a quarter of the world’s production, but after the GFC swept away financial backers, Chinese government-owned companies stepped in with cash.

Australian regulators have already approved the sale of 25% of Arafura, but have deferred a decision on the sale of 51.7% of Lynas until Monday.

Their decision could be influenced by what comes out of a conference in Beijing tomorrow, when it’s expected that the issue of China’s increasing restriction on access to rare earth minerals will be raised by Western governments and multinational corporations.

ASX Code: LYC

ASX Code: ARU

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Caltex to buy Exxon petrol stations

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

In the news today, Caltex is buying Exxon Mobil s 302 Australian petrol service stations.

The $300 million purchase covers the inventories, settlement costs and will also see Caltex take on 1700 staff. The funding is coming from internal sources, according to Caltex CEO Des King.

The deal still needs to be approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board, however the share price was up this morning on market open.


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For more details on this news story, go to The Age.

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Light at the end of the Fortescue tunnel

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

The West Australian has it on good authority that Treasure Wayne Swan will approve Andrew Forrest s bid to sell a significant portion of his Fortescue Metals Group to Chinese Government-controlled Hunan Valin Iron and Steel.

Although the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) is yet to announce its decision, the West Australian believes it will not object to the deal in its current form, but that if Valin were to seek to increase its stake from 17.4% the government would be provoked into considerable concern .

Presumably this deal does not trigger any national security warning signals, which blocked the Oz Minerals / Minmetals takeover bid last week.

Click here to read the full article.

Stocks for your watchlist:
OZ Minerals: OZL.AX (ASX)
Fortescue Metals Group: FMG.AX (ASX)
BHP Billiton: BHP.AX (ASX); BLT.L (London Stock Exchange); BHP.N (New York Stock Exchange)
Rio Tinto: RIO (ASX and LSE)

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