The story of Uralkali and Belaruskali would make a fine Ian Fleming novel. Russian and Belarusian potash miners clash, wrecking their lucrative marketing cartel. The chief executive of Uralkali, the Russian miner, is arrested in Belarus while on his way to meet the Belarusian prime minister. Russian oligarchs come under political pressure to sell their big stakes in Uralkali. And now: enter China. A unit of China’s sovereign wealth fund exchanged its Uralkali bonds for a 12.5 per cent equity stake yesterday. Is its play political, economic, or both?
俄羅斯鉀肥生產商Uralkali和白俄羅斯同行Belaruskali的故事,可以寫成一部不錯的伊恩•弗萊明小說(譯者注:007原著的作者)。俄羅斯和白俄羅斯的鉀肥礦商鬧矛盾,撕毀了他們之間利潤豐厚的卡特爾行銷聯盟。俄羅斯Uralkali的執行長在白俄前往會見該國總理的途中被捕。俄羅斯寡頭面臨政治壓力而出售其持有的大量Uralkali股份。下一步是:中國進場。中國主權財富基金的一個部門週二將其所持有的Uralkali可轉股債券換成12.5%股權。這步棋是出於政治意圖,還是經濟意圖,亦或兩者兼有?