China's state-owned enterprises have always protested that they are ordinary commercial entities that operate completely independently of Beijing. OK, so Australia's defence department – and, by extension, treasurer Wayne Swan – isn't entirely convinced. Minmetals is determined to prove it. On Friday, after its bid for Oz Minerals was surprisingly blocked on grounds of national security, Minmetals said it still wanted to find a way to keep Canberra happy while satisfying Oz's lenders. On Tuesday – the latest in a series of deadlines set by banks owed A$1.3bn by Oz – China's largest metals and minerals trader put in an offer that would give it a decent foothold in Australian zinc, along with a high-quality copper and gold mine in Laos. Assuming the deal has been restructured with the guidance of the Foreign Investment Review Board, Minmetals may simply pluck out those assets, giving Oz more than enough cash to pay its debts while living on as a listed company.
中國國有企業總是聲稱，它們是普通的商業實體，其運作完全不受中國政府的影響。好吧，澳大利亞國防部——乃至澳大利亞財長韋恩?斯旺(Wayne Swan)——不完全信服。五礦集團(Minmetals)決心證明這一點。上周五，在對Oz Minerals的出價出人意料地以國家安全為由遭到拒絕后，五礦集團表示希望找到一種方式，既能讓澳大利亞政府高興，又能讓Oz的貸款銀行滿意。周二，在銀行設定的最新一個最后期限（Oz共欠這些銀行13億澳元貸款），中國最大的金屬和礦產交易商五礦集團發出了收購報價，若交易成功，將使其在澳大利亞鋅礦行業站穩腳跟，并獲得老撾的一個高質量銅金礦。假定這筆交易已按照澳大利亞外國投資審查委員會(Foreign Investment Review Board)的要求進行了重新安排，五礦也許只需要得到這些資產，而讓Oz有足夠資金償還債務，同時作為一家上市公司生存下去。