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.
投资者永远都不会清楚，在必和必拓(BHP Billiton)对竞争对手力拓(Rio Tinto)的长时间竞购展开之际，马利尤斯•科劳珀斯(Marius Kloppers)与必和必拓董事会到底在想些什么。但如今，这看上去像一个绝妙的主意。大宗商品价格暴跌和信贷撤离意味着，有能力利用估值下降局面的大型运营商仅剩下必和必拓、巴西淡水河谷(Vale)和manbetx3.0 公司。负债累累的力拓在收购加拿大铝业(Alcan)后，错过了以文明方式剥离非核心资产的机会，如今开始出售其核心资产，同时对其最大股东manbetx3.0 铝业(Chinalco)表现得毕恭毕敬。另一家有意参与收购的矿业公司斯特拉塔(Xstrata)，在大规模举债收购鹰桥公司(Falconbridge)后，于2007年通过配股发行修补了其资产负债表。由于必和必拓的热烈拥抱，力拓失去了这一选择。