Australia is near the top of the global mining merger and acquisition deals that took place last year as per a PricewaterhouseCoopers report. It is second only to Canada in the number of transactions that it made in the mining industry as a number of Australian firms tried to benefit from the surging minerals market.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers report said that the value of Australian companies’ mergers and acquisitions last year was about $ 133 billion. This is a huge 77% leap from the comparative figures from 2009. Supported by the mining boom the industry has made a huge jump after the global financial crisis almost crippled it.
The report also asserted that China was nowhere near controlling the global mineral resources as has been suggested by some people. While it has been undoubtedly more aggressive than it has been in the past Chinese companies made only 6% of the deals last year globally.
Compared to 36% made by Canada , 16% made by Australia, and another 16% by the United States, China is still taking baby steps in the mining related mergers and acquisitions. So there is no need to fear that China is somehow controlling all the world’s mineral resources.
Tim Goldsmith from PricewaterCoppers’ said that the drivers for the current year are growth related and values are rising again. This climate of increased metal prices will see a number of deals being made in the current year as well. They may even beat the record 2693 mining related transactions that took place last year.