From the Business Spectator (Australia):
Rio Tinto chairman Paul Skinner and his chief executive Tom Albanese pulled off the deal of a lifetime in buying Alcan and its hydro power driven global aluminium leadership position.
BHP chairman Don Argus and his aggressive CEO Marius Kloppers now want to buy Rio Tinto before the market understands just how good the Alcan deal is. To succeed, they will have pay a lot more than they have so far offered.
My guess is that Argus and Kloppers understand this and will pay the required sum, although top price might stunt earnings per share growth in the short term.
I am not privy to the longer term planning of Argus and Kloppers, but as the new BHP CEO and his experienced chairman sat down and examined the future of the BHP group, a number of obvious conclusions would have come to them.
They would have asked themselves: “What metal looks like having the best potential in the next 20 years?”...MORE
