WILL ALCOA SHAREHOLDERS REAP LATE DIVIDENDS FROM COMMODITIES BOOM?

摘要

Speculation re-emerged last week that BHP Billiton or Rio Tinto may attempt to take over US aluminium producer Alcoa at the same time as the base metals bull-run showed no signs of running out of steam. In the latest twist in the long-running rumours, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are mulling rival 40 billion dollars takeover bids for Alcoa, and have already completed feasibility studies for their bids but have not yet approached the Alcoa board, according to a report in The Times last week. Talk that BHP or Rio may be preparing for a major acquisition, such as Alcoa, whose share price has underperformed during the commodities bull-run of the last three years, has never been far from the headlines in recent years. Investors in the company have missed out on the sharp run-up in aluminium prices since 2004 - the three-month aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange had doubled in value to 3,200 per tonne dollars by May last year from January 2004 and last week was still trading at high levels around 2,800 per tonne dollars.