With the world suffering through a major credit crunch, China has suddenly gone shopping. Beijing said last week that one of its big state-owned banks, China Development Bank, agreed to lend Petrobras, the Brazilian oil giant, US$10B in exchange for a long-term supply of Crude Oil. That investment came after similar deals were signed this week with Russia and Venezuela, bringing China’s total Crude Oil investments this month to US$41B.
This month, Aluminum Corp. of China, the largest Chinese aluminum producer, agreed to invest $19.5 billion in Rio Tinto of Australia, one of the world’s biggest mining companies. And on Monday, China Min metals bid US$1.7B to acquire Oz Minerals, a huge Australian zinc mining company. The new China is flush with cash and eager to take advantage of weak commodity prices, China is once again on the hunt for global energy and resources to power its growing economy. But this time, Chinese companies are being welcomed overseas. Analysts say that China will continue to make deals this year, for a variety of small oil and natural gas companies, mineral producers and mining companies.
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