Word: xiong
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...Chinalco deal died mainly for economic reasons, but that didn't mean the Chinese were happy about it. In fact, an investment banker close to the proposed deal says "they were furious - not just the company, but the government." The banker notes that Chinalco CEO Xiong Weiping was in Australia offering to amend the terms of the deal in order to salvage it just before Rio demurred...
...that their deal would not go through after all. It would, instead, float a rights issue to raise money needed to pay down a massive debt load, as well as enter into a joint venture with BHP Billiton - the mining giant that last year tried to buy Rio outright. Xiong, in a statement issued by Chinalco, simply said he was "disappointed" at the outcome...
...bravura performance. It was also unprecedented. Outsiders should understand: big, state-owned companies in China (and most everywhere else) tend to be stodgy, intensely conservative organizations. Often, top executives will practically read from a script prepared for them by minions when meeting foreigners. Not Xiong. (See pictures of Chinese investment in Africa...
...source says, Chinalco had in many respects "gone to school" on the CNOOC deal, in terms of "what not to do." Unlike CNOOC's attempt to buy UNOCAL outright, this was a minority investment, welcomed - at first, anyway - by Rio's management. There was the PR charm offensive by Xiong, who went to great pains to convince Rio's stakeholders that his aims were strictly commercial and that there was no hidden agenda to buy up supply in order to keep transfer prices down later, as many critics contended...
...speaking Prime Minister of Australia, from having to make the tough decision as to whether to let the Chinalco investment go forward. After the Rio announcement, Rudd made a point of saying that Australia was very much open to foreign investment, and then met in Canberra on Friday with Xiong to reinforce the point. Analysts say the government was likely to approve the investment, but only after imposing what surmised would be "tough conditions." It s still unclear what those "conditions" might have been...