BHP Billiton ready to face government concerns on its Potash Corp bid
With emerging reports on Wednesday that the provincial government of Saskatchewan has already decided on disapproving its close to $US40 billion or $A41.43 billion takeover bid on Canada's Potash Corporation, BHP Billiton Ltd declared on the same day that it is able to deal with all the concerns of the proposal.
Citing government sources, reports of the alleged rejections by both the provincial government of Saskatchewan and the federal government of Canada were circulated on late Tuesday, with both entities reportedly agreeing that the deal would not amount to any advantage for the host country and province.
Saskatchewan has determined that once the deal had materialised, it is poised to lose up to $US3billion in local revenues, prompting the provincial authorities to move in blocking the deal.
Analysts said that the federal government of Canada would most likely support the reported decision of Saskatchewan government officials as recent indications pointed to the likelihood that the central government would re-echo the provincial sentiments.
Canadian laws dictate that projects with the magnitude of the BHP Billiton proposal of acquiring the flagship industry of Saskatchewan would require the final approval of the federal government.
Among its latest signal of possibly concurring with the sentiments of its provincial government, Canada's central government earlier stressed that feedbacks coming from Saskatchewan on the proposed buyout would be crucial to its final decision.
The Canadian government also highlighted its intentions of carefully evaluating project proposals that would impact to the benefit of the country's economy, asserting at the same time that any proposal not leading to the net benefits of the government would be ditched.
Despite the apparent setback, BHP Billiton remained upbeat that it would be able to address the concerns of both Canada and Saskatchewan on its Potash Corp takeover bid.
The company stressed that it is "prepared to make commitments which go beyond the requirements of prevailing Canadian legislation that should effectively address the tax loss concerns of the Province."
BHP Billiton expressed confidence that its proposal would result to net benefits for Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Canada as it gave assurance that once approved, the buyout would still see a Potash Corp head office in the province, make Saskatoon as a global potash headquarters and deliver at least the current employment levels of Potash Corporation's operations.
BHP chief of non-ferrous division Andrew Mackenzie pointed out that at this time, "our focus continues to be on working with the government of Canada and demonstrating the significant net benefits we can bring to the country."