China Resources

[Tackler]

Globe says Noranda marks the start of Chinese invasion

2004-09-27 06:47 ET - In the News

Also In the News (C-BNN) Brascan Corp
Also In the News (C-FL) Falconbridge Ltd

The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Sept. 25, edition that China Minmetals' entry into exclusive negotiations to buy Canada's Noranda launches the great leap outward by a surging Chinese economy. The Globe's Gordon Pitts writes that Canada, with its strong supply position in energy and minerals, will be a target of this shopping spree by a China that desperately needs to nail down sources of strategic commodities. "This is a very hungry dragon and its demand for copper and nickel and oil have long outpaced domestic supply," says Howard Balloch, a former Canadian ambassador to China and now a Beijing-based corporate investment consultant. "Domestic supply will never again satisfy its hydrocarbon or base metal needs." Chinese companies have made strategic investments in Canada before but not on the scale of Minmetals's bid for Noranda, and observers say it is just the beginning. Mr. Balloch says Chinese companies may nail down resources through long-term supply agreements or by engaging in joint ventures, perhaps in third countries. Or as with Minmetals, they may buy all or part of the foreign companies themselves.