Post by Catdaddy on Aug 20, 2010 10:52:14 GMT -5
Since we "allegedly" have rights to 29 mine-able Potash deposits, I think this article is relevant. Also, notice Mr Cline's past and present positions. Later,
Catdaddy
BHP has cultivated ‘local’ image in Potash’s home base
blogs.markethingych.com/canada/2010/08/19/bhp-has-cultivated-local-image-in-potashs-home-base/
August 19, 2010, 1:20 PM EDT
For the past five years or so, Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton has been working hard, says a revealing report in the Toronto Globe and Mail, to position itself as a Saskatchewan-based good corporate citizen, sponsoring hockey tournaments, hiring 30 local staff people — with plans to add 45 more within a year — and moving into a new offices in downtown Saskatoon.
This was all deliberately staged, says the Globe piece, in careful preparation for “springing the trap” this week — a hostile takeover bid of Saskatoon-based Canadian company Potash Corp., the world’s largest fertilizer company.
Recently, it seems, BHP has seemed like more of a local operation than former crown corporation Potash, the Canadian province’s biggest company.
The fact that only a third of Potash’s employees now live in Saskatchewan and that CEO William Doyle is an American who has moved to Chicago probably worked in BHP’s favor, notes the well-researched backgrounder by Globe and Mail reporters Gordon Pitts and Brenda Buow.
“There is a perception that Potash is run from Chicago,” says former provincial Finance Minister Eric Cline.
The world’s largest mining company, which has been aggressively acquiring commodities worldwide, launched a $38.6 billion unfriendly takeover of the big Canadian company this week.
Mining a misperception?
Since 2005, the Globe piece says, BHP has been building up its stake in the potash-rich prairie province by acquiring potash exploration rights and saying it would start a new potash-mining project. Potash CEO Doyle told the Globe and Mail: “I think we’ve found out that was pretty much a ruse. They were using those rights to try to drive our share price down.”
“Did this takeover bid catch me by surprise?” Doyle added. “Hardly.”
BHP CEO Marius Kleppers, by the way, is a South Africa native whose office is in Melbourne. Doyle says he and Kloppers have known each other for years.
Meanwhile, the Globe says, BHP continues to build its “local” brand, sponsoring the world junior hockey tournament in Saskatoon last December and also funding other community events while the local giant, Potash, fights off the takeover.
“BHP has been signalling to the public it wants a big local presence here and the public has been receptive to that,” says Cline, now corporate-affairs V.P. for Saskatoon natural resources company Shore Gold Inc.
Will Canada’s government intercede to stop a takeover? That’s a whole other story.
Catdaddy
BHP has cultivated ‘local’ image in Potash’s home base
blogs.markethingych.com/canada/2010/08/19/bhp-has-cultivated-local-image-in-potashs-home-base/
August 19, 2010, 1:20 PM EDT
For the past five years or so, Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton has been working hard, says a revealing report in the Toronto Globe and Mail, to position itself as a Saskatchewan-based good corporate citizen, sponsoring hockey tournaments, hiring 30 local staff people — with plans to add 45 more within a year — and moving into a new offices in downtown Saskatoon.
This was all deliberately staged, says the Globe piece, in careful preparation for “springing the trap” this week — a hostile takeover bid of Saskatoon-based Canadian company Potash Corp., the world’s largest fertilizer company.
Recently, it seems, BHP has seemed like more of a local operation than former crown corporation Potash, the Canadian province’s biggest company.
The fact that only a third of Potash’s employees now live in Saskatchewan and that CEO William Doyle is an American who has moved to Chicago probably worked in BHP’s favor, notes the well-researched backgrounder by Globe and Mail reporters Gordon Pitts and Brenda Buow.
“There is a perception that Potash is run from Chicago,” says former provincial Finance Minister Eric Cline.
The world’s largest mining company, which has been aggressively acquiring commodities worldwide, launched a $38.6 billion unfriendly takeover of the big Canadian company this week.
Mining a misperception?
Since 2005, the Globe piece says, BHP has been building up its stake in the potash-rich prairie province by acquiring potash exploration rights and saying it would start a new potash-mining project. Potash CEO Doyle told the Globe and Mail: “I think we’ve found out that was pretty much a ruse. They were using those rights to try to drive our share price down.”
“Did this takeover bid catch me by surprise?” Doyle added. “Hardly.”
BHP CEO Marius Kleppers, by the way, is a South Africa native whose office is in Melbourne. Doyle says he and Kloppers have known each other for years.
Meanwhile, the Globe says, BHP continues to build its “local” brand, sponsoring the world junior hockey tournament in Saskatoon last December and also funding other community events while the local giant, Potash, fights off the takeover.
“BHP has been signalling to the public it wants a big local presence here and the public has been receptive to that,” says Cline, now corporate-affairs V.P. for Saskatoon natural resources company Shore Gold Inc.
Will Canada’s government intercede to stop a takeover? That’s a whole other story.
