力拓(Rio Tinto)解决了一个令人瞩目的问题，却遇到了另外两个。
随着力拓昨日宣布净负债下降，大宗商品价格回升改善了现金流，同时恢复派息，这家矿业公司似乎已结束了一段财务“创伤期”，这个过程某一天可能会成为商学院的教学案例。
目前力拓遇到的问题是与中国的关系和铁矿石产能扩张。这两个问题都比不上2009年2月之前几个月公司财务状况对公司造成的威胁。但它们需要的外交技巧，要能够媲美力拓去年展示出的令股东满意的财务手段。
力拓前中方铁矿石谈判代表胡士泰(Stern Hu)及3名其它中国雇员周二被起诉，提醒着投资者不要忘记力拓的“中国问题”。
力拓首席执行官艾博年(Tom Albanese)昨日表示：“中国想要的是更多的金属。在这方面，我们的长期战略目标是一致的。”艾博年此前宣布，力拓年度税前利润下降14%，至78亿美元。力拓的最大客户目前仍然是中国。
说服相关中国政策制定者认可这些共同利益的任务，目前落到了力拓新任中国代表鲍谊安(Ian Bauert)身上。他将咨询各方顾问，包括英国前任驻香港总领事斯蒂芬•布拉德利(Stephen Bradley)。
铁矿石定价谈判是一个特别棘手的问题。去年7月，在力拓与一些亚洲钢铁生产商达成基准铁矿石价格降价33%的协议（尽管中国钢铁业要求更高的降幅）后不久，主持谈判的胡士泰即遭到拘押。
不能确定以上事件之间存在联系。但在胡士泰受审之际，包括力拓在内的铁矿石生产商可能有理由提出新的基准铁矿石价格，比以前达成的任何价格都高。鉴于铁矿石现货价格仍高于每吨120美元，目前每吨60美元的基准价似乎难以持续。需求是明显的：力拓、必和必拓(BHP Billiton)和淡水河谷(Vale)这三家主要生产商都开动了最大产能生产铁矿石。
这就是第二个问题所在。力拓正努力完成与必和必拓的铁矿石合资企业。必和必拓是与力拓最接近的竞争对手，拥有澳大利亚铁矿石最丰富的皮尔巴拉(Pilbara)矿山的另一半。去年，铁矿石仍然是力拓最有价值的部门，实现净利润41.3亿美元，是与其邻近的产品部门利润的两倍多。
力拓和必和必拓表示，通过合并双方重叠的皮尔巴拉业务，同时保持铁矿石销售的独立运作，双方将节省近100亿美元。
但全球三大铁矿石生产商中的两家成立“纯运营”合资企业，遭到了钢铁生产商的强烈反对，他们认为这妨碍了竞争。
欧盟委员会、德国、日本、澳大利亚、特别是中国的竞争监管机构正在考虑这些论点。
译者/何黎
Rio Tinto has resolved one high-profile problem only to confront two more.
As the mining company yesterday announced lower net debt, better cash flows from recovering commodity prices, and a restored dividend, the company appeared to have book-ended a phase of financial trauma that may one day become a business school case study.
The problems now confronting it are Chinese relations and iron ore expansion. Neither of these issues threaten the company as much as its finances did in the months before February 2009. But they require diplomatic skills to equal the financial finesse it demonstrated last year to the satisfaction of shareholders.
The indictment on Tuesday of Stern Hu, its former chief iron ore salesman in China, and three associates was a reminder to investors of its so-called “China problem”.
“What China wants is more metal,” Tom Albanese, chief executive, said yesterday after unveiling a 14 per cent fall in annual pre-tax profits to $7.8bn. “In that way our long-term strategic objectives are aligned.” Rio's biggest customer remains China.
Convincing the right Chinese policymakers of these shared interests now falls to Ian Bauert, Rio's new China representative. He will consult advisers that include Stephen Bradley, the former UK consul general in Hong Kong.
The iron ore pricing round is an especially sticky subject. Last July, Mr Hu was detained shortly after presiding over the 33 per cent drop in benchmark iron ore prices that Rio agreed with some Asian steelmakers, in spite of China's steel industry body crying for a deeper discount.
No link between those events is established. But as Mr Hu proceeds to trial, iron ore producers including Rio could reasonably ask for new benchmark iron prices that exceed any achieved before. The current benchmark of $60 per tonne looks unsustainable next to spot iron ore prices that remain above $120 per tonne. Demand is clear: all three main producers – Rio, BHP Billiton, and Vale – are producing iron ore at maximum capacity.
That is where a second problem lies. Rio is trying to complete an iron ore joint venture with BHP, its nearest rival that owns the other half of Australia's richest iron ore province, the Pilbara. Last year iron ore remained Rio's most valuable division, with net profits of $4.13bn, more than twice the next product group's earnings.
By combining their overlapping Pilbara operations while keeping iron ore sales separate, Rio and BHP would save roughly $10bn, the companies say.
But an “operations-only” joint venture for two of the three biggest producers of iron ore has met fierce resistance among steel- makers, who see it as anti- competitive.
Arguments are now being weighed by competition regulators for the European Commission, Germany, Japan, Australia, and notably, China.
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001031322
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