Investors will never know what was really going through the minds of Marius Kloppers and the BHP Billiton board as the long takeover bid for its rival, Rio Tinto, unfolded. But right now it seems like a masterstroke. The collapse in commodity prices and withdrawal of credit means that the only big operators with the capacity to take advantage of distressed valuations are BHP, Vale and China Inc. Debt-drenched Rio, having missed the window to offload non-core assets in a civilised manner after the Alcan deal, is now selling core assets while going cap in hand to its largest shareholder, Chinalco. Another acquisitive miner, Xstrata, patched up its balance sheet after a big debt-funded purchase – Falconbridge – with a rights issue in 2007. Thanks to BHP's bear-hug, that option was closed to Rio.
投資者永遠都不會清楚，在必和必拓(BHP Billiton)對競爭對手力拓(Rio Tinto)的長時間競購展開之際，馬利尤斯•科勞珀斯(Marius Kloppers)與必和必拓董事會到底在想些什麼。但如今，這看上去像一個絕妙的主意。大宗商品價格暴跌和信貸撤離意味著，有能力利用估值下降局面的大型營運商僅剩下必和必拓、巴西淡水河谷(Vale)和中國公司。負債累累的力拓在收購加拿大鋁業(Alcan)後，錯過了以文明方式剝離非核心資產的機會，如今開始出售其核心資產，同時對其最大股東中國鋁業(Chinalco)表現得畢恭畢敬。另一家有意參與收購的礦業公司斯特拉塔(Xstrata)，在大規模舉債收購鷹橋公司(Falconbridge)後，於2007年通過配股發行修補了其資產負債表。由於必和必拓的熱烈擁抱，力拓失去了這一選擇。