Rio Tinto refuses BHP

Rio Tinto has refused the $142 billion bid offer made by BHP Billiton. Rio Tinto mentioned in its press release that its Board of Directors thought the BHP bid underestimated Rio Tinto and its future. If Rio Tinto would have agreed, the new company which would be formed, would be worth $380 billion and each shareholder of Rio Tinto would receive 3 BHP shares for every one Rio Tinto share. In a news report in The Financial Times, BHP may increase its offer by another $70 billion. This offer by BHP is the second largest in the world, following Vodafone's proposal to takeover Mannesmann in 1999. Such mega mergers, if successful will be inspected by competition regulators in the United States and Europe. According to industry analysts the rising mergers in mining is propelled by China's increasing demand for copper, aluminum and iron-ore.