Fertiliser ingredients are not household names. Yet, with potash still in the headlines, a separate takeover in China is revealing the possible agricultural importance of another substance: anthracite coal.
Hong Kong-listed Kiu Hung has bought Chinese coal miner Sino View Group for HKD 8.9bn ($1.1bn) - 50 per cent more than the expected price.
Kiu Hung is a toy manufacturer and investment company which recently diversified by buying coal mines in Inner Mongolia. It has a market cap of HKD 2.2bn ($323m) and reported a loss in 2009. This deal is for 100 per cent of Sino View, an investment holding company listed in the British Virgin Islands, which was previously owned by Fast Glory Holdings.