In the global hunt for mining assets, China has emerged as the buyer to beat. Just a few years after suffering high-profile failures to close major acquisitions, Chinese buyers of all sizes are sealing more sophisticated deals at a higher rate of success.

    Companies based in mainland China or Hong Kong participated in $13 billion of outbound mining acquisitions and investments last year -- 100 times the level in 2005, according to data tracker Dealogic.

    China-based companies are on a similar pace in 2010. The Shandong Iron and Steel Group announced in July a $1.5 billion investment into an African Minerals iron-ore project in Sierra Leone, the latest of 76 outbound mining deals announced by China-based buyers so far this year, valued at $8.3 billion.

    China’s hunger for metals and minerals will be a principal driver in boosting its overall outbound investment to more than $100 billion in 2014, predicted Derek Scissors, a Heritage Foundation researcher.

    China’s success in snapping up makers of iron ore, molybdenum, nickel and other minerals has come as much of the world smarted from the global financial crisis. In 2009, China accounted for one-third of the value of all cross-border mining mergers and acquisitions, up from 7.4 percent in 2007 and less than one percent in 2004, according to Dealogic.

    In Australia, historically a major destination for Chinese mining investments, Chinese acquirers accounted for nearly 40 percent of all inbound mining deals last year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. In Canada, a newer market for Chinese buyers, the number was around 25 percent.

    China’s buying binge could eventually increase the global supply of minerals and ores, according to Tim Goldsmith of PricewaterhouseCoopers. If China’s demand stays strong and other economies like India grows rapidly as well, the added supply could help to temper commodity-prices rises, he said.

    Some Chinese investors are buying companies with mines that are at earlier stages of development or exploration, a riskier but potentially more profitable proposition.

    “The Chinese are willing to be more creative in their investments and willing to move a little up the ladder to higher levels of risk.” said Howard Balloch, a former Canadian ambassador to China who founded a Beijing-based investment-banking boutique, the Balloch Group.

    Source: www.intellasia.net

 中国热衷海外买矿

       在全球对矿业资产的搜寻中，中国已成为强有力的买家：几年前中国还在大型收购中遭到重创，但目前中国的大小买家成功地完成了更多更为复杂的交易。

    根据数据追踪机构Dealogic的数据，总部位于中国内地及香港的公司去年共计参与了130亿美元的海外矿产收购和投资，是2005年的100倍。

       2010年，总部位于中国内地的公司以相似的速度进行并购。七月，山东钢铁集团宣布，向非洲矿业公司位于塞拉利昂的铁矿石项目投资15亿美元，这是今年迄今中国买家宣布的76宗海外矿产交易中的最新一宗。这76宗海外矿产交易共计价值83亿美元。

       传统基金会研究员德里克·西瑟斯预测，中国对金属和矿产的狂热需求将是2014年中国海外整体投资超过1000亿美元的主要推动力。

       中国成功收购铁矿石、镍、钼和其他矿产品的生产企业是在世界多数国家遭受全球金融危机重创之际。根据Dealogic数据，2009年中国在所有跨国矿业并购案价值中占三分之一，高于2007年的7.4%，而2004年为不到1%。

       澳大利亚传统上是中国矿业投资的重地。根据咨询公司普华永道的统计，中国收购方占据去年澳大利亚所有国内矿业交易的近40%。在加拿大，这一比例约为25%——该国是中国买家的最新市场。

       普华永道的蒂姆·戈德史密斯说，中国的大规模收购最终有可能提高很多矿产的全球供给，如果中国的需求保持旺盛，印度等其他经济体也快速增长，那么供给的增加或许有助于缓和大宗商品价格的涨势。

       一些中国投资者所收购的公司，其矿山还处在开发或勘探的较早阶段。这种收购风险更高，但也可能更加赚钱。

       曾任加拿大驻华大使、在北京创办小型专业投资银行贝祥投资集团的贝祥说，现在，中国人在投资中更有创造性，并且愿意承担更高的风险水平。