BHP in ads blitz to push bid for PotashCorp

BHP Billiton has bought full-page advertisements in the North American press and will meet investors directly this week in a bid to sell its $US40 billion ($A45 billion)offer for Canada's PotashCorp as other potential spoilers start circling the world's largest potash producer.

The hostile offer is sure to be high on the agenda at BHP's annual results briefing in London on Wednesday but chief executive Marius Kloppers is also expected to embark on a trip, possibly including stops in New York and Canada, in an effort to discuss the merits of the proposal.

While Mr Kloppers will have a tricky time convincing investors that $US130 a share is ''full and fair'' value for PotashCorp and the company's highest offer, he will also be keeping one eye over his shoulder for looming predators wanting to swoop in and better BHP's bid.

If someone was to come in over the top of BHP's bid, analysts believe it could come from China. China's top fertiliser company, Sinofert, in which PotashCorp has a 22 per cent stake and on whose board it has two executives, told Britain's Financial Times that it would ''pay close attention'' to the BHP bid and was ''interested in overseas potash opportunities''.

With China's 1.3 billion population rapidly multiplying the country's demand for food and potash, a nutrient used in agriculture production, is forecast to grow. Sinofert's parent company, Sinochem Group, has already signalled its interest in growing its business. Last year agricultural chemicals company, Nufarm, rebuffed its $US2.5 billion offer for the company.

Other logical bidders for PotashCorp include Brazil's Vale or groups from Russia, where the government earlier this month moved to ensure security of food supply to its own people by enforcing a ban on wheat exports.

Less likely, but also being mentioned by analysts as a potential bidder, are Rio Tinto and Cargill. Rio chief executive Tom Albanese has confessed he is ''not a farmer'' but would consider a move into fertiliser ''if the right resource were to come our way''.

Cargill has a controlling stake in PotashCorp rival Mosaic and could have trouble guiding a deal through competition regulators if it were minded to make an offer.

With PotashCorp chief executive Bill Doyle fighting BHP's , which he calls ''highly opportunistic'', it is expected that BHP will have to increase its $US130-a-share offer.

Analysts have said BHP could raise its bid as high as $US150-$US155 a share with it still being value accretive for the Big Australian.