Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Huh? "Potash sues BHP Billiton" (POT; BHP)

From FT Alphaville:
Never mind what the Chinese are or aren’t doing with a counter-bid — here’s an odder twist in the tale of BHP Billiton’s hostile takeover battle concerning PotashCorp.
The target’s now filed a complaint in a Chicago court seeking to prevent BHP from carrying on with its offer, alleging that the company produced ‘false and misleading’ statements relating to its $39bn bid.
It’s certainly a colourful filing. From the pun-tastic opening:
On August 12, 2010, BHP’s CEO Marius Kloppers met with PCS’s CEO Bill Doyle to convey BHP’s offer to purchase PCS for $130 a share. Kloppers stated “there is only a short window” to get a deal done. Kloppers also stated that BHP had been “studying PCS since 2001 and more intensively since 2005”; that Doyle had created “unbelievable shareholder value”; and that it was time for Doyle and PCS shareholders “to reap the harvest.” But, it is Kloppers and BHP who seek to “reap the harvest”…
Advising an agricultural fertiliser maker to ‘reap the harvest’? How corny....MORE
Save us from punny jouralists.