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Posts Tagged ‘Fortescue’
Mining Week 42/’12: Bakrie vs. Bumi
October 13, 2012
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Top Stories of the Week:
- Bakrie proposed to buy Bumi’s assets
- The Bakrie Group, which owns approx. 24% of Bumi Plc, has an offer to buy Bumi plc’s assets (Berau and Bumi Resources) and leave the London listed miner active in Indonesia behind as a cash shell. The group previously held 48%, but sold 24% to Borneo Lumbung to ease debt issues.
- Bumi’s share price has dropped 80% versus the high in July 2011 on the back of low coal prices and governance issues.
- Sources: Financial Times 1; Financial Times 2; Wall Street Journal
Bumi plc structure: London listed miner owns a stake in Berau coal and Bumi resources.
- BHP Billiton seeks to cut costs
- BHP Billiton announced it would cut jobs in an attempt to cut costs in its iron ore division, attempting to preserve margins at low iron ore prices.
- The company also recently initiated cost reduction measures in its base metal operations and announced a freeze of executive compensation.
- Sources: BHP Billiton Base Metals briefing; International Resource Journal; Wall Street Journal
Trends & Implications:
- Bakrie’s move to leave Bumi plc could imply the end of the Indonesian coal ambitions of Rothschild’s venture. If Bakrie finds the money to execute the deal, it offers other shareholders an opportunity to limit their losses. Bumi could try to reinvent itself and buy assets in other regions with the cash received for Bumi resources and Berau, but it would start with significantly less cash to acquire companies than in its attempt in 2011.
- The updated M&A share attractiveness tracker shows a relative leveling of the playing field in terms of mega M&A over the past month. South African listed companies clearly took a major hit, but as the outlook for these companies deteriorated at the same time the shares have not gained much attractiveness from an acquisition standpoint. Fortescue managed to fend of urgent debt issues and saw its share price rise, but it remains one of the more attractive acquisition targets. BHP Billiton lost its position as the best positioned acquirer as outlook for the company deteriorates with the expectation of slowing global demand.(
2012 | Wilfred Visser | thebusinessofmining.com
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Categories: Mining Week
acquisition, Bakrie, base metals, Berau, BHP, Bumi, business, coal, cost cutting, Fortescue, Indonesia, iron ore, job, jobs, merger, mining, mining business, Rothschild, share
Mining Week 39/’12: Fortescue moves on; GlenStrata almost there
September 22, 2012
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Top Stories of the Week:
- Xstrata’s board votes October 1st on Glencore offer
- The decision by Xstrata’s board on whether or not to endorse Glencore’s new bid for the company is delayed by a week to October 1st. The endorsement might help to convince a majority of shareholders to accept the offer for 3.05 shares of Glencore per share of Xstrata.
- The debate around generous retention packages for Xstrata’s key managers started again as several large shareholders voiced their discontent. Glencore stressed nothing will change to those packages unless Xstrata’s board wants to adjust them. Finding a compromise to satisfy the key shareholders might be the final step for the board to make the deal happen.
- Sources: Wall Street Journal; Financial Times 1; Financial Times 2
- Fortescue solves debt problems by refinancing $4.5b debt
- Fortescue announced refinancing of $4.5bn debt with Credit Suisse and JP Morgan as underwriters. Debt maturity of the new deal is 5 years. The company was facing liquidity problems as low iron ore prices and aggressive investment schedules were undermining its ability to repay debt.
- Sources: Wall Street Journal; Fortescue announcement
Fortescue’s debt profile prior to refinancing
- Oyu Tolgoi waiting for power
- Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi mine is 97% complete, but negotiations with Mongolian and Chinese governments on power supply delay startup. Oyu Tolgoi built 220Kvolt power line to connect to the Chinese grid, but can’t sign a offtake agreement without consent of the Mongolian government
- Sources: Financial Times; The Australian; Project website
Trends & Implications:
- Oyu Tolgoi’s trouble to get powered is just one example of the challenges many large operations face to secure affordable power supply. The power requirements of a large operation require a significant change and development of power grids of many developing nations. Generation capacity is typically not readily available and the large offtake trigger discussions about long term price agreements.
- After meeting with Glencore’s board this week, Xstrata’s board appears to be working hard to make the merger/acquisition go ahead. It is hard to imagine another outcome in which Xstrata’s shareholders get more value for their company, making it likely they will accept the offer. If the deal is approved by Xstrata’s shareholders, the changes in holdings various large investors will likely make will give an interesting insight into the clientele effect the integration of a mining house and a commodity trader could have.
2012 | Wilfred Visser | thebusinessofmining.com
Categories: Mining Week
acquisition, board, business, China, clientele, debt, Fortescue, Glencore, grid, iron ore, merger, mining, mining business, Mongolia, power, refinancing, Rio Tinto, shareholders, Xstrata
Mining Week 23/’12: Investment dilemmas for BHP and Fortescue
June 3, 2012
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Top Stories of the Week:
- Rumour around retention plan for Xstrata executives
- Several major shareholders have voiced discontent with the approx. $370mln retention bonuses for the top 72 executives of Xstrata that has been made part of the vote on the Glencore-Xstrata merger.
- Sources: Financial Times 1; Financial Times 2; Wall Street Journal
- Australian state governments fight for BHP investment
- BHP Billiton received environmental clearance for the expansion of Port Hedland’s iron ore harbour. The project could cost around $20bln up to 2022 to increase export capacity to 350Mtpa.
- The government of Southern Australia is pressuring BHP to start the expansion of its Olympic Dam copper/uranium project before the end of the year, threatening not to extend the permits. The Olympic Dam expansion is one of the key projects that might be cancelled or delayed as BHP tries to limit investment and return money to shareholders.
- Sources: Bloomberg; Business Spectator; Financial Times
- Fortesque worries about debt servicing
- Fortescue, Australia’s third largest iron ore miner, is close to completion of an expansion that will enable it to export 155Mtpa iron ore.
- The CEO of the company has indicated that it will focus on repayment of debt before undertaking further expansion. The company has received negative feedback from investors because of its high gearing. Its Debt/Equity ratio stands at approx. 45%, versus 26% for Vale and Rio Tinto and 15% for BHP Billiton.
- Sources: Fortescue media release on expansion progress; Wall Street Journal; 9News
Trends & Implications:
- If BHP decided to press on with the Port Hedland expansion at the expense of large development projects in other business units that would be a next sign that the supermajors are preferring the relatively predictable iron ore market over further diversification. Both Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are considering sale of their iron ore business, BHP is in the process of reviewing the options for its Australian manganese operations, and Vale reached a deal last week to dispose its coal operations.
- The proposed retention bonuses for the top 72 managers of Xstrata add up to around $370mln, an average of some $5mln per person, 4% of last year’s profit, roughly 1-2 annual executive salaries per person, about $0.8 per share, or some 0.1% of share price. The bonuses are set up to keep the managers with the company for at least another 3 years. Even though we are talking about a lot of money that could trigger ethical debate about the executive pay in the industry, the shareholders hardly have any ground to protest the plan from a business perspective. Retention of the top managers after the merger should certainly enable the company to get a quick payback on the $370mln.
©2012 | Wilfred Visser | thebusinessofmining.com
Categories: Mining Week
BHP Billiton, bonus, business, copper, debt, Fortescue, gearing, Glencore, harbour, iron ore, manganese, mining, mining business, Olympic Dam, Port Hedland, retention, Rio Tinto, uranium, Vale, Xstrata
Australian Miners Look West for Capital
November 8, 2010
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“After providing a flood of capital when the rest of the world was closing its checkbooks during the financial crisis, China’s mostly state-controlled mining sector is likely to find itself increasingly outgunned in the race for Australian resources, according to bankers to the industry.
‘Through the financial crisis, China was the provider of capital of last resort,’ said Alan Young, a managing director at J.P. Morgan in Sydney. ‘What you’re seeing now is that companies have other options.’
The return of commodities prices to historic highs in recent months has changed the equation, making funding from Asian end-users more of an option than a necessity.”
Source: Wall Street Journal, November 3 2010
Observations:
- Various Australian mining firms have raised money on stock markets (Fortescue, MacArthur) now that investors turn back to markets and interest in mining stocks is increasing. This reduces the need for the mining companies to raise cash by partnering with cash-rich Chinese firms.
- The increase of the exchange rate of the Australian dollar versus the American dollar and the Chinese Renmimbi further decreases the attractiveness for Chinese firms to invest in Australian mining property.
Implications:
- Chinese companies have ongoing interest in expansion abroad. As they will have to compete with other sources of money for western companies they will resort to offering more favorable conditions or to acquiring foreign assets.
- The increasing competitiveness to act as financer of mining projects strengthens the need for the Chinese mining and metals industry to consolidate; creating less but stronger companies that have the power to make international deals.
©2010 | Wilfred Visser | thebusinessofmining.com
Categories: Market change
business, cash, China, Fortescue, Macarthur, mining, mining business, stock market
Xstrata suspends A$586m spending
June 4, 2010
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“Xstrata, the Anglo-Swiss miner, said it had “suspended” A$586m (US$498m) in spending on coal and copper projects after reviewing operations in Australia in the weeks since Canberra announced plans for a new 40 per cent resources super profits tax.
It comes as the world’s biggest mining houses battle the Australian government over a tax that is scheduled to come into force in just over two years, provided it clears the legislative process. Miners have waged a high-profile campaign to warn that the tax will damage Australia’s international competitiveness and jeopardise mining projects and jobs.”
Source: Financial Times, June 4 2010
Observations
- Until now only a limited number of companies have announced suspension of development. $0.5 bln by Xstrata, $15 bln by Fortescue (on very early stage projects) and a withdrawn takeover bid of Macarthur by Peabody.
- The tax proposal is unlikely to be passed before the Australian elections, making the actual implementation very uncertain.
Implications
- Mining companies and investors fear that other countries may follow Australia’s example and take a larger part of miner’s profits.
- The government has various options to get a deal on reforming mining taxes:
- Increase the “tax-free” rate of return of 6% to a threshold percentage more common in mining investments (12-15%)
- Only apply tax to new projects that didn’t start development. In this way current developments are not threatened. However, this will not solve the miner’s problem in the long run.
- Combine tax proposal with cut in state royalties (paid per ton of product instead of over profit). Only paying when making a profit reduces risk for the miners significantly. However, ideologically this is not in line with giving the locals a part of the value of the extracted resources.
Further reading:
Overview of implications of super profits tax
©2010 – thebusinessofmining.com
Categories: Investments, Market change
Australia, business, coal, copper, Fortescue, investment, mining, mining business, tax, Xstrata
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