It has financed takeovers by big private companies, both at home and abroad, creating national champions in businesses ranging from food to pulp and paper.
A spoiling Chinese investment, restrictive competition rules, Rio's debt burden and nervous regulators would make this difficult, though not impossible.
Global expansion through acquisition is usually expensive, and expansion through internal growth is time-consuming and sometimes impossible in markets that are not actively growing.
The power and ambition of the giants of the digital economy are astonishing—Amazon has just announced the purchase of the upmarket grocery chain Whole Foods for $13.
Last weekit filed a suit against unknown investors who had profited in theoptions market before the announcement of a takeover of TXU, the Texanutility.