Rio s Embarrassing Board Room Bust-up

候任董事长获任命仅四周后就辞职了，这真是件尴尬事。当这事发生在公司正努力为今明两年即将到期的债务再融资190亿美元时，就跟闹剧有的比了。不过，力拓(Rio Tinto)董事会发现这正是自己在候任董事长Jim Leng辞职后的非常处境。他的辞职会让人们再次担心，力拓高管更在乎保住自己的饭碗和公司的独立性，而不是创造股东价值。Jim Leng力拓在大宗商品周期的高峰期时斥资380亿美元收购了阿尔坎铝业有限公司(Alcan)。但这项投资却判断失误，给力拓的资产负债表上留了个大窟窿，Leng与他的同事在如何填补这个窟窿的问题上闹翻。Leng倾向于配股。他有充分的理由这样做。规模不及力拓的竞争对手Xstrata刚刚通过超低价配股过了投资者这一关，不过它不得不在这个过程中向主要股东Glencore提供20亿美元的贷款。投资者或许会踊跃参与力拓的配股。没有人怀疑力拓作为多元化的低成本矿业集团的业务实力。曾任英荷钢铁企业Corus董事长的Leng过去证明，这种战术能起作用。2003年他用类似的方法使Corus摆脱了困境。2007年印度的Tata以远高于市值的价格收购了Corus。不过，Leng的法子并非万灵药。最近力拓通过出售资产获得了16亿美元，再加上配股筹得的钱，这可能足以满足公司今年必须支付的89亿美元的资金需求。不过明年还有100亿美元未偿贷款。力拓表示，一种选择就是把部分项目中的少数股份出售给单一最大股东中国铝业公司(Chinalco)，同时向这家国有企业发行可转换债券。这有其有利的一面。力拓将立刻获得现金，避免了不确定性和风险，还有在如今这样一个市场上扩股的高成本。长远来看，最大限度地涉足中国市场是一种利大于弊的做法。不过，考虑到在把公司优质资产的少数股份出售给关键客户的过程中会出现的重大战略和监管问题，力拓需要证明，这样的交易不会损害力拓的股东。Leng的辞职并不会打消投资者的疑虑。董事会面临着重建投资者信任的艰巨任务。Matthew Curtin相关阅读反对与中铝合作 力拓候任董事长辞职 2009-02-10力拓考虑向三井物产出售部分资产 2009-02-07中铝谋求力拓资产 2009-02-03向中国求救 2009-02-03力拓与中国铝业商谈出售资产 2009-02-02复苏难期 力拓考虑继续减产 2009-01-16 本文涉及股票或公司document.write (truthmeter('2009年02月10日16:30', 'RTP'));力拓股份有限公司英文名称：Rio Tinto PLC (ADS)总部地点：英国上市地点：纽约证交所股票代码：RTPdocument.write (truthmeter('2009年02月10日16:30', 'RIO.AU'));Rio Tinto Ltd.总部地点：澳大利亚(Australia)上市地点：澳大利亚证券交易所股票代码：RIOdocument.write (truthmeter('2009年02月10日16:30', 'RIO.LN'));力拓股份有限公司英文名称：Rio Tinto Plc总部地点：英国上市地点：伦敦股票代码：RIO


To lose a chairman designate just four weeks after his appointment is embarrassing. To do so when the company is in the process of trying to refinance $19 billion in debt which matures this year and next is little short of farcical. Yet this is the extraordinary position that Rio Tinto's board finds itself in, following the resignation of Jim Leng. His loss will revive fears that Rio executives are more concerned with shielding their own jobs and the company's independence rather than creating shareholder value.Leng fell out with his colleagues over the best way to fill the huge hole left in its balance sheet by Rio's ill-judged $38 billion acquisition of Alcan at the peak of the commodities cycle. Leng's favored approach was a rights issue. He had good reason to push it. Xstrata, Rio's smaller rival, has just won investors round with a heavily-discounted rights issue even though it had to lend main shareholder Glencore $2 billion in the process. Investors might jump at a Rio issue too. Nobody disputes the underlying strengths of Rio's business as diversified low-cost mining group. Leng, the former chairman at Corus, has shown in the past that the tactic can work. He dug the Anglo-Dutch steel maker, bought at a big premium by India's Tata in 2007, out of hole with a similar tactic back in 2003.But Leng's approach wasn't a panacea. Together with $1.6 billion in recent asset sales, a rights issue might raise enough to cover the $8.9 billion it has to repay this year. But it leaves $10 billion outstanding next year. Rio has said one alternative is to sell minority stakes in some projects to Chinalco, its biggest shareholder, as well as issue convertible bonds to the state-linked Chinese company. That has advantages. Rio would get cash upfront and save the uncertainty, risk, and cost of raising equity in today's markets. Long term, there's a premium on having maximum access to China's markets.But Rio will need to prove that such a deal wouldn't hurt Rio shareholders, given the substantial strategic and governance issues arising from the sale of a minority stakes in some of the company's best assets to a key customer. Leng's departure will hardly reassure investors. The board now has its work cut out to rebuild trust.Matthew Curtin