Reposted from Reuters
Canadian coal miner SouthGobi Resources Ltd said Mongolia’s anti-corruption authority has imposed restrictions on the company’s Mongolian unit, including its local bank accounts, as it investigates asset sales.
The orders restrict the use of in-country funds but are not expected to have any material impact on the company’s activities, said SouthGobi, which is controlled by Rio Tinto Ltd. More…
Parliament Building of Mongolia
SINGAPORE – The Mongolian parliament is discussing a law that will cap investment by foreign state-owned firms in strategic assets, according to people familiar with the situation, a move that could potentially derail Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd.’s bid to buy a controlling stake in SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (1878.HK).
One of the people said Monday that ahead of elections in June, the Mongolian parliament’s plan to change the law is to ensure that acquisitions by foreign state-owned firms in strategic firms, such as resource companies or mines, will go through a government vetting process akin to that practised in Canada and Australia. Currently, there is no shareholding limit for foreign state-owned firms looking to invest in Mongolia’s strategic firms. More…
Reposted from Canadian Business
By The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER – Aluminum Corporation of China Ltd. and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN) said Wednesday they would work with the Mongolian government regarding any proposed legislation to review a deal between the two companies.
Ivanhoe Mines has signed an agreement to sell its stake in SouthGobi Resources (TSX:SGQ) and its coal operations in Mongolia to the Chinese aluminum company.
The companies said the Mongolian government is considering new foreign investment legislation. More…
Harald Sund
SouthGobi Resources may be about to lose one ‘big brother’ but stands to gain an even larger one with greater clout and residing just across the border, if a proposed deal by China’s aluminum producer Chalco to buy Ivanhoe Mining’s controlling stake in the Mongolian-focused coal producer is completed.
Hong Kong-listed shares in SouthGobi soared almost 20 percent after Chalco said it will acquire Ivanhoe’s 57.6 percent stake for $926 million or C$8.48 a share, a 28.1 percent premium to SouthGobi’s Friday closing stock price in Toronto.
“We have a big brother with Ivanhoe,” SouthGobi Resources’ CEO Alexander Molyneux told CNBC More…
