Baosteel: Beijing to decide on Rio Tinto bid

Whether Chinese steelmaker Baosteel will be included in the Chinese bid for mining company Rio Tinto will be decided by the central government, said Baosteel vice director Zhao Kun, Economic Observer reported (in Chinese). Speaking at a seminar on mergers and acquisitions in the steel industry, Zhao said that as a central government-owned company, Baosteel does not have the right to make such decisions, even though winning the bid would give Baosteel further control over the cost of raw materials. CIC, China's sovereign investment fund, was reported to be planning a bid for Rio Tinto with Chinese steelmakers to compete with BHP Billiton's proposed merger, a claim it has denied.