The CBC reports that, “BHP Billiton has withdrawn its $40-billion hostile-takeover bid of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, the Australian company said Sunday. The company’s announcement comes about 10 days after the Canadian government ruled the acquisition would not provide a net benefit to the country.”
On November 3, the CBC reported that, “The federal government has rejected BHP Billiton’s $40 billion hostile takeover of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. …Industry Minister Tony Clement said Wednesday (that) BHP’s offer for PotashCorp would not benefit the country – but he did appear to leave the door open for the Australian mining giant to make a better offer. ‘BHP Billiton has 30 days to make any additional representations and submit any undertakings,’ Clement said. ‘At the end of that period, I will make a final decision.’”
On August 19, when the story about the BHP Billiton bid first became public, CBC reported that, “Maude Barlow, chairperson of the Council of Canadians, demanded Ottawa intervene.” Barlow stated, “This is the wrong way to go. When you hand over all the power over these resources to international investors, be they backed by a large country or just private investors, you lose control, you lose the ability to take care of your local economy, your local environment.” That’s at http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=4394.
On October 13, we expressed our opposition to the BHP Billiton bid on the BBC World Service. We highlighted in that radio interview that, “had the PCS not been privatized in the first place, the people of Saskatchewan could own today a $39 billion asset.” That’s at http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=4939.
Today’s news report is at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2010/11/14/sask-potash-billion-deal-off.html#ixzz15M0aZ0k4.
