PotashCorp takeover bid to get review

Saskatchewan Energy Minister Bill Boyd said Thursday the province has commissioned an independent review of any takeover of fertilizer maker PotashCorp.

The Conference Board of Canada will analyze the risks and opportunities a deal would present.

Australian miner BHP Billiton launched a hostile $38.6-billion US, or $130-a-share, bid on Aug. 17.

PotashCorp rejected the BHP bid as too low, but a sweetened offer or white-knight bidder has yet to emerge.

The announcement came the same day as a large Alberta-based pension fund said it had been approached by potential rival bidders to help with an offer.

Leo de Bever, CEO of AIMCo,said it has been approached by some government wealth funds and others to make an offer.

De Bever said in a later interview that AIMCo and other funds had been approached by brokers looking to connect Chinese partners with Canadian players, with an eye to taking some kind of run at PotashCorp.

But de Bever cautioned that talks so far had been "academic and preliminary" and that no actual negotiations had taken place.

Chinese, Australian and other companies are also said to be weighing such bids, but they would likely have to line up Canadian financing partners such as AIMCo, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board or the Ontario Teachers PensionPlan to help facilitate a rival bid.

Generally in these situations, a foreign bidder may seek "local cover" from pension funds to make the bid more "palatable," de Bever said.

AIMCo is one of Canada's biggest investment funds and handles $71 billion in assets on behalf of the Alberta government and its workers.

De Bever said he has had trouble working out an economic justification for a higher bid than BHP's.

"Getting into a bidding war with BHP is not the best way to deploy our capital," he told a news conference in Calgary ahead of the release of the pension fund's annual report.

Maximum benefits

Boyd said the independent review willensure that the people of Saskatchewan get the maximum benefits from the development of the province'spotash industry.

"No matter who owns the potash mines, the people of Saskatchewan own the potash," Boyd said in a release.

The Conference Boardwill look at how a deal would affect jobs, government revenues, Saskatchewan's position in the global potash industry and its reputation as a place to invest.

The government also wants the review to assess what governments can do to lower risk and increase opportunities.

Boyd said he wants the report done by Sept. 30th and promised to make it public.

He said it will be used in Saskatchewan's submissions to Industry Canada, the federal agency thatwould reviewa takeover under the Investment Canada Act.