HONG KONG/SYDNEY (Reuters) – BHP Billiton’s (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) $39 billion hostile bid for Potash Corp (POT.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has set a high bar for rivals, but China could yet launch its own bid to secure supply of the vital crop nutrient.

Top Chinese fertilizer company Sinofert (0297.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) — in which Potash (POT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) owns a 22 percent stake — is the most logical candidate to lead a counter offer, industry sources say.

While Sinofert itself is small — its $3.8 billion market value is less than a 10th of Potash’s — its parent, Sinochem Group, is a huge state-owned group. Sinochem, the country’s biggest chemical trader and top fertilizer firm, had revenues of $36 billion last year.

Aluminum giant Chalco (2600.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (601600.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and state-backed chemicals company ChemChina, could also emerge as potential bidders, according to the sources.

“I assure you there are numerous organizations in China who would chase potash (assets),” said an Asia-based investment banker who has advised Chinese resources companies on overseas deals.

“China has very few potash reserves for itself, it’s a commodity which they’re going to be in short supply of. And, does China want to be over the barrel on yet another commodity?”

A spokeswoman for Sinofert declined to comment, while Chalco and ChemChina could not be reached for comment.

SYDNEY/HONG KONG (Reuters) – BHP Billiton, no stranger to hostile takeover battles, is moving fast to counter Potash Corp’s “poison pill” defense against its hefty $39 billion takeover bid.

Barely 24 hours after its $130 per share was made public, the world’s largest miner said on Wednesday it would make the offer direct to shareholders in an effort to circumvent a shareholder rights plan rolled out by Potash Corp’s board on Tuesday..

That rights plan could have given existing shareholders a chance to buy more stock at a steep discount if a single investor bought a 20 percent stake in the company, making it more difficult and expensive for BHP to snap up a controlling stake in Potash Corp.

“Clearly Potash Corp felt that wasn’t in their best interest,” Marius Kloppers, BHP’s CEO said, referring to the initial offer.

“I stress that our intention here was to try and get to a cooperative arrangement by scheme of arrangement.”

There is one legal factor working in Kloppers’s favor.

Canadian securities law prevents Potash Corp from triggering the rights plan if BHP takes its offer to all shareholders and leaves it on the table for a minimum of 90 days, which going hostile achieved.

HONG KONG/JAKARTA Aug 13 (Reuters) – Major energy deals are on the boil in resource-rich Indonesia, regional dealmakers and analysts say, as Western energy giants seek to raise money for near-term projects and to pay down debt.

U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has put portions of its stakes in the Ganal-Rapak sea gas project near East Kalimantan on the block, in what could be an $800 million deal.

There’s also talk that ConocoPhillips (COP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the third-largest U.S. oil company by market value, is gearing up to divest parts of its Indonesian businesses, three bankers with knowledge of the matter said.

All three bankers were unauthorised to speak publicly about the matter and declined to be named.

Chevron owns 80 pct of the Ganal-Rapak project, and Italy’s ENI SpA (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) owns 20 pct. The second-largest U.S. oil company aims to reduce its holding to roughly 51 percent, said one of the sources.

The sale process has gained significant momentum since last November when Chevron first said it was seeking partners in the project, which is expected to come on line in 2016. There is no clear time table for the completion of the auction.

“It’s probably five to six years from production, and it will probably need some capital expenditure so it’s not everyone’s cup of tea,” an Asia-based investment banker with direct knowledge of the auction said.

LONDON/HONG KONG, July 29 (Reuters) – BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) pushed ahead with plans to sell assets in Vietnam, Colombia and Venezuela, as it scrambles to hive off $30 billion of assets to pay to clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The planned sales also aim to create a leaner company with the potential for higher growth. Last week, the oil major agreed a $7 billion sale of oil and gas fields to Apache Corp (APA.N: Quote, Profile, Research), in its first major sell-off.

BP has hired advisers to sell its stakes in oil fields and gas projects in Colombia and Vietnam, according to separate sources familiar with the matter on Thursday.

And Russia’s TNK-BP (TNBPI.RTS: Quote, Profile, Research), in which BP has a half stake, said it was considering buying BP’s Venezuelan interests, which analysts value at $850 million to $1 billion. [ID:nWLA9690]

BP has hired Barclays Capital (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) to sell its Colombian assets, according to two people familiar with the matter. Analysts value that business, based around the Cusiana and Cupiagua fields, at $1.5 to $2 billion.

BP discovered the Colombian fields in the early 1990s. Their production peaked in 1999, at an average rate of 434,000 barrels per day (bpd).

BP handed over the operation of the Cupiagua field this month to state oil company Ecopetrol SA but still operates Cusiana. Cupiagua output was then running at 26,000 bpd.

VENEZUELA

LONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) – BP Plc(BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) pushed ahead with plans to sell assets in Vietnam, Colombia and Venezuela, as it scrambles to hive off $30 billion of assets to pay to clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The planned sales also aim to create a leaner company with the potential for higher growth. Last week, the oil major agreed a $7 billion sale of oil and gas fields to Apache Corp(APA.N: Quote, Profile, Research), in its first major sell-off.

BP has hired advisers to sell its stakes in oil fields and gas projects in Colombia and Vietnam, according to separate sources familiar with the matter on Thursday.

And Russia’s TNK-BP(TNBPI.RTS: Quote, Profile, Research), in which BP has a half stake, said it was considering buying BP’s Venezuelan interests, which analysts value at $850 million to $1 billion.

BP has hired Barclays Capital to sell its Colombian assets, according to two people familiar with the matter. Analysts value that business, based around the Cusiana and Cupiagua fields, at $1.5 to $2 billion.

BP discovered the Colombian fields in the early 1990s. Their production peaked in 1999, at an average rate of 434,000 barrels per day (bpd).

BP handed over the operation of the Cupiagua field this month to state oil company Ecopetrol SA but still operates Cusiana. Cupiagua output was then running at 26,000 bpd.

HONG KONG/LONDON (Reuters) – BP has tapped HSBC to sell its stake in the Nam Con Son gas project in Vietnam, as it scrambles to hive off $30 billion of assets to pay for the clean-up of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, three sources said.

The British oil giant, which is on a campaign to sell a host of assets from Pakistan to Egypt, said last week it is seeking a buyer for its stake in the Nam Con Son gas project offshore southern Ho Chi Minh City, worth $966 million by one estimate.

India’s state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Petrovietnam — both partners with BP in the Nam Con Son project — are expected to submit a joint formal offer within weeks to buy BP’s stake.

“The formal auction should get underway in two weeks,” an Asia-based resources banker who has advised oil giants on outbound deals told Reuters.

He added that a pre-emptive bid by ONGC and Petrovietnam will be tough to beat, given BP’s desperation, and Hanoi’s insistence that BP’s partners be given first priority.

ONGC has a 45 percent share in Block 6.1 in the Nam Con Son basin, operated by BP, which has a 35 percent stake. The remaining 20 percent is owned by state-run Petrovietnam.

BP’s stake includes interest in the Lan Tay and Lan Do gas fields, the Nam Con Son pipeline and the Phu My power generation project.

MUMBAI/HONG KONG, July 22 (Reuters) – BP’s (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) woes may enable India to get the upper hand over China for at least one coveted energy asset.

India’s state-run Oil and Gas Natural Corp (ONGC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is well-positioned to buy the embattled UK firm’s 35 percent stake, worth $966 million by one estimate, in an offshore Vietnamese gas field in which it already owns 45 percent.

China’s CNOOC (0883.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (CEO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sinopec (0386.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (600028.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (SNP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and Thailand’s PTTEP (PTT.BK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) are also likely to show interest in BP’s stake, bankers and analysts familiar with the asset told Reuters last week, although ONGC’s presence in the project gives it an edge.

A deal would be a welcome change for India, which has been playing the underdog to China in the hunt for natural resources as the two Asian countries seek energy security to feed fast economic growth.

Hanoi insists BP give priority to its partners in the project.

BP is scrambling to raise billions to pay for the Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst oil spill in U.S. history, and ONGC and PetroVietnam, which owns the rest of the project, are waiting to pounce and capitalise on the British giant’s vulnerability.

India, whose plodding approach to overseas deals has allowed other targets to slip away, appears to be moving quickly this time to clinch a deal. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

HONG KONG, July 13 (Reuters) – Mongolian coking coal company Energy Resources LLC aims to raise between $800 million and $1 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering by as early as September, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Energy Resources, whose Ukhaa Khudag mine is roughly 245 km from the Chinese border, will be the first company listed in Hong Kong to be fully based and operated in Mongolia.

The offering would be sponsored by Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and JP Morgan (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the sources said. All three sources declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly about the matter.

Mongolia is attracting serious attention from global investors after sealing a deal in October with Ivanhoe Mines Ltd (IVN.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) and Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO.AX: Quote, Profile, Research)(RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research) to develop the $3 billion Oyu Tolgoi mine, one of the world’s biggest untapped copper and gold deposits.

Now, Mongolia’s domestic companies are seeking foreign capital to help them expand, and the government is trying to connect local companies and its stock market with the rest of Asia — from Hong Kong to Korea to Japan — hoping to turn domestic franchises into regional ones.

Earlier this year, media reports said Energy Resources was seeking either a London or a Hong Kong IPO.

The company’s peers in Hong Kong — Mongolian Energy Corp (0276.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) and SouthGobi Energy Resources (1878.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) — operate mines in Mongolia but are headquartered offshore in Hong Kong and Canada, respectively.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Of all the BP(BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) units that Asian buyers may be eager to scoop up across the globe, an asset closer to home in southern Vietnam could evoke the most immediate interest.

Asia’s energy investment bankers are busy doing their homework on BP’s stake in the $1.3 billion Nam Con Son gas project offshore of Ho Chi Minh City.

China’s CNOOC and Sinopec, as well as Thailand’s PTTEP and India’s ONGC — already a partner of BP’s in Vietnam — are likely to show interest in BP’s stake in the project, bankers and analysts who are familiar with the asset told Reuters.

BP, among the biggest foreign producers of natural gas in Vietnam, discovered four gas fields in the southern part of the country roughly 20 years ago. The British giant also has a gas-fired power station and a pipeline there. Together, they are known as Nam Con Son, Vietnam’s largest gas project.

If and when Nam Con Son will be put on the auction block remains to be seen. But some bankers say Asian interest will be strong, especially from Thailand and India, who have regional ambitions but often play second-fiddle to China’s outbound M&A dealmaking prowess.

A BP spokeswoman in Vietnam declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. CNOOC spokesman Xiao Zongwei also declined to comment, and Sinopec declined to confirm any interest in Nam Con Son. Officials from ONGC were not immediately available for comment.

The British oil company announced a $10 billion asset sales program in June as part of a broader set of moves designed to ease pressure from the U.S. government.

ULAN BATOR, June 18 (Reuters) – Mongolia’s bid to exploit untapped mineral wealth, build huge infrastructure projects and list its homegrown firms abroad, is hampered by an unresolved dilemma facing the young Asian democracy: the rise of resource hungry China and its influence as Mongolia’s major customer.

Consultants, bankers and analysts are flocking to Mongolia, hoping the government values economic priorities more than politics as it tries to pull the bulk of its 3 million citizens out of poverty.

Many are eager to remind Mongolia that China will remain its dominant resources buyer and investment partner due to geographic location and insatiable resources demand in the world’s fastest growing major economy.

“China is the principal market for the majority of what Mongolia will be producing and, as a result, we expect Chinese investment interest will be strong in Mongolia because clearly the Chinese companies have the market linkages inside China,” Graeme Hancock, senior mining specialist at the World Bank, said at the Frontier Securities’ Mongolia Capital Raising Conference in Ulan Bator.

“However, I do recognize and have observed during my time in Mongolia some concern about Mongolia being dominated by Chinese investment,” Hancock added.

“So, while there will be a lot of investment from China, there will be limits to that investment. There will need to be a lot of partnership arrangements with Mongolian companies to facilitate Chinese investment.”

China, for its part, has been clear about its economic ambitions in the northern land of windswept grassland.