By Kevin McCauley
Hill & Knowlton Canada CEO Mike Coates has registered as Ottawa lobbyist for Australian giant BHP Billiton, which has launched a $39B hostile bid for Saskatchewan-based Potash Corp., the world's largest fertilizer company.
"I have a team working with me on a range of PR and government relations. I am the only lobbyist registered at the federal level, however," he told O'Dwyer's via an email.
The hostile takeover bid has sent economic and political shockwaves through the province and Canada.
After meeting with BHP executives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall said he still doesn't see how the province and country would benefit from the deal.
Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons that the mandatory probe of the deal under the nation's Foreign Investment Review Act will include Wall's concerns.
H&K's Coates is close to Harper. He was the leader of Harper's election debate prep team for the past three elections, according to his bio on H&K's website.
Potash, which has hired Fleishman-Hillard's Brian Klunder and John Capobianco for PR work and Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher for financial duties, today filed a lawsuit in Chicago federal court to block a deal, charging BHP violated U.S. securities law.
The complaint alleges "false statements, half-truths and contradictions" and charges BHP with manipulating the "perceived value" of Potash.
Meanwhile, China's Sinochem Corp. has hired Citigroup and Deutsch Bank to explore its owned deal for Potash.
Reuters notes that BHP's hostile bid to acquire Rio Tinto was thwarted by another China company, Chinalco, which teamed with Alcoa to purchase a Rio Tinto stake.
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