BHP Billiton chief says investors 'on the sideline' over Rio bid
Investors were sitting on the sidelines as they waited for the world's largest mining company BHP Billiton to overcome regulatory hurdles in its hostile takeover of rival Rio Tinto, BHP said Sunday.
The Anglo-Australian giant's chief executive Marius Kloppers said while he believed the bid of 3.4 BHP shares for every Rio Tinto share was attractive, it was still up to shareholders to determine whether it went ahead.
Kloppers acknowledged that the ratio of the value of Rio Tinto shares to BHP Billiton shares this month fell to under three for the first time since the bid was launched.
The chief executive said this could be linked to the strong performance of BHP -- which last week posted a 14.7 percent rise in annual profit to 15.39 billion US dollars -- but said some investors were waiting for the outcome of regulatory rulings.
"I think it's a combination of how our commodities versus Rio's commodities have developed," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation television.
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