LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Rio Tinto: Bhp Billiton
built 655 days ago
Rio Tinto has a much better 12- month trailing cash flow and a better dividend payout ratio for the past 12 months, too. In the 4th quarter of 2006, Rio Tinto’s dividend was a third higher than BHP’s. No wonder BHP wants Rio Tinto, and cheaply — they get the free cash flow to use for another purchase.
Source:
Rio Tinto, which has been selling its products to China since the early 1900s, may soon become a Chinese Government-owned company. Major Chinese steelmakers, such as Baosteel, have expressed frustration over a potential merger between Rio Tinto and another mining giant, Australian-based BHP-Billiton. In response, Baosteel’s chairman, Xu Lejiang, told the 21st Century Business Herald that he was considering a takeover bid of the company: “The possibility of a takeover plan going ahead is very big.” Baosteel, which is owned by the Chinese state, is possibly seeking assistance from the China Development Bank to assist in financing a possible takeover.
Source:
Rio Tinto shares surged as much as 22 percent Friday on the Australian Securities Exchange before falling back to close at 130.90 Australian dollars ($121.29), still up 15.4 percent. Shares of BHP Billiton, meanwhile, fell 1.8 percent to A$42.47 ($39.35), after having gained as much as 1.3 percent earlier.
Source:
Rio Tinto today traded at $440 per share (roughly). BHP traded at roughly $77 a share. At a 3-to-1 swap, Rio Tinto investors would get only $210 for each share. WHAT?!??? That’s even below Rio Tinto’s one-year trailing share price of roughly $350 a share.
Source:
Le titre Rio Tinto a gagné plus de 29% entre jeudi 8 et vendredi 12 novembre à londres. BHP se refuse pour l’instant à préciser s’il compte lancer une OPA hostile. La fusion des deux groupes créerait un mastodonte de 340 milliards de dollars de capitalisation et de 75 milliards de dollars de chiffre d’affaires.
Source:
BHP Billiton said Thursday that it had approached Rio Tinto about a potential takeover that would create a global mining giant worth about $360 billion. Rio rejected its offer, but BHP added that it would continue to press for a deal, which would rank among the largest mergers in history.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Bhp Billiton