China Contacting Others About Possible POT Bid (POT, BHP)

China is looking to derail BHP Billiton's BHP bid for Potash POT, that much is sure. How they're going to do it is another story. A Reuters report yesterday show that the Chinese, along with its consortium of other investors, approached Alberta Investment Management Corp. about possibly teaming up to buy Potash. The Canadian pension fund, which manages some $70 billion in assets, said it was not interested in the deal because the economics did not work. Given the fact that the size of the acquisition is so big, it's preventing many other suitors from getting into the deal. BHP initially offered $130 per share for Potash, making the bid worth about $39 billion. Reports came yesterday that Sinochem, China's state-owned chemicals giant hired HSBC HBC to evaluate its options. Potash currently owns 22% of Sinochem. Shares of Potash are currently trading significantly higher than the $130 per share offer, trading at $149.50 this morning. BHP is also higher this morning, gaining $1.16 to trade at $71.36.