今年大宗商品價格的強勁反彈和債券市場的解凍令澳大利亞資源業(yè)出現(xiàn)了復蘇，尋求海外資金改善資產(chǎn)負債狀況或為新項目融資的礦業(yè)公司數(shù)量也減少了。

　　這促使澳大利亞監(jiān)管機構(gòu)對進入該國的海外投資采取了更強硬的立場。

　　不過，澳大利亞資源業(yè)需要海外投資進行新項目的開發(fā)，政府也不希望對有意者完全關(guān)上大門。

　　澳大利亞政府一直堅決執(zhí)行重點考慮購買少數(shù)股權(quán)而非全盤收購的海外投資者的做法。

　　澳大利亞外國投資審查委員會（Foreign Investment Review Board）9月24日表示，希望海外投資者將它們計劃收購的澳大利亞大型資源類公司的股份比例限制在不超過15%.在新項目上的投資應(yīng)最高不超過50%.

　　澳大利亞外國投資審查委員會總經(jīng)理科爾默（Patrick Colmer）說，政府已表示會優(yōu)先考慮各種形式的合資項目。

　　他說：我們更樂于看到的是，對創(chuàng)建投資或新項目的投資比例低于50%，對主要生產(chǎn)商的投資低于15%.

　　市場人士說，這是政府一段時間以來暗中傳遞的信息，中國投資者現(xiàn)在看來已認識到這點，在過去一年里削減了交易規(guī)模，以滿足政府將澳大利亞礦產(chǎn)公司持股比例降至50%以下的偏好。

　　但最近中國提出的許多交易都超過了50%的關(guān)口。一位投資銀行家說，澳大利亞外國投資審查委員會的評論可能是澳大利亞希望向中國傳遞不會再批準這類交易的訊息。

　　這位銀行家說，他們一直私下向中國人表示這點，而中國方面仍繼續(xù)把目光投向要求50%以上股份的交易，因此他們現(xiàn)在可能決定公開表明這點，以說服中方不要再這樣做。

　　對中國投資者來說，澳大利亞外國投資審查委員會的表態(tài)闡明了一些外國投資的審查過程。過去，有人一直批評這個過程缺乏透明度，充滿不確定性。

　　政府重新采取強硬路線讓兗州煤業(yè)（Yanzhou Coal Mining Co.）以38億澳元（33億美元）收購煤炭企業(yè)Felix Resources Ltd. 100%股份的交易成為關(guān)注的焦點，也對其它計劃中的交易也會有影響。

　　Felix股票上周五下跌3%，收于16.75澳元（14.49美元），并未比兗州煤業(yè)16.95澳元的報價低多少，對出現(xiàn)競購對手所抱的希望也在某種程度上支撐了股價。

　　Felix董事總經(jīng)理弗蘭納里（Brian Flannery）對此不予置評，兗州煤業(yè)發(fā)言人說，該公司尊重澳大利亞監(jiān)管體系，并拒絕發(fā)表更多評論。

　　澳大利亞說，它是以個案方式對主要外國投資計劃進行審核的。

　　在過去18個月里，澳大利亞外國投資審查委員會共審核了90項來自中國的投資計劃，總價值為340億澳元。

　　澳大利亞外國投資審查委員會上周四就展示了其強硬立場，拒絕了中國有色金屬有限公司（China Nonferrous Metals Co.）收購稀土開發(fā)商Lynas Corp. 51.6%股份的計劃。

　　澳大利亞外國投資審查委員會希望有國家背景的中國有色金屬有限公司收購不超過50%的股份，并將董事數(shù)量降至董事會總?cè)藬?shù)的一半以下，但這些修改對中方是不能接受的，于是他們選擇了放棄。

　　澳大利亞外國投資審查委員會的科爾默說，具體情況將按照其價值進行判斷，政府將采取靈活態(tài)度，這點可以由許多股份超過50%的交易獲得批準得到證實。

　　但在其中很多情況下，礦業(yè)公司都深陷大宗商品價格暴跌及債券市場凍結(jié)加劇的融資問題引發(fā)的現(xiàn)金流危機，因此迫切希望獲得來自中國的資金，這讓政府更容易做出批準的決定。

　　Australia Limits Foreign Investors

　　A strong rebound in commodity prices and thawing debt markets this year have led to a recovery in the Australian resources sector， with fewer distressed miners seeking foreign cash to shore up their balance sheets or to fund projects.

　　This has emboldened Australian regulators to take a tougher stance against foreign investment that has been entering the country.

　　Australia's resources industry needs foreign investment to develop new projects， however， and the government is keen not to shun interest.

　　The government has been able to firmly enforce its preference for foreign investors to take minority stakes rather than opt for a takeover.

　　Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board on Thursday expressed its desire that overseas investors should limit their proposed stakes in major Australian resource companies to no more than 15%. Investments in new projects should be capped at less than 50%.

　　"Our government has expressed a preference for projects that are joint projects in various forms，"said FIRB General Manager Patrick Colmer.

　　"We are much more comfortable when we see investments that are below 50% for green field [or new projects] and below 15% for major producers."

　　Market participants say this has been the government message behind the scenes for some time， and Chinese investors now seem to have acknowledged it by tailoring deals over the past year to meet the government's preference for stakes in Australian miners to under 50%.

　　But recently China pitched a number of deals above the 50% mark， and one investment banker said FIRB's comments may be Australia's attempt to send a message to China that it won't approve any more of these deals.

　　"They have been saying it privately to the Chinese and the Chinese keep bringing [deals that require more than a 50% stake]， so maybe they have decided now to make it public to try to convince them not to do it，"said the banker.

　　For Chinese investors， the FIRB's comments provide some clarity on a foreign-investment-review process that has been criticized by some for its uncertainty and lack of transparency.

　　The government's renewed hard line puts Yanzhou Coal Mining Co.'s 3.8 billion Australian dollar （US$3.30 billion） offer for 100% of coal miner Felix Resources Ltd. in the spotlight and also has implications for other proposed transactions.

　　Felix shares closed Friday down 3% at A$16.75 （US$14.49）， not far below Yanzhou's offer of A$16.95 with hopes of a rival bid also playing a part in supporting the stock.

　　Felix Managing Director Brian Flannery declined to comment， and a spokesman for Yanzhou said the group respected the Australian regulatory regime and declined to comment further.

　　Australia says it assesses major foreign-investment proposals on a case-by-case basis.

　　In the past 18 months， FIRB has reviewed 90 Chinese investment proposals valued at A$34 billion.

　　Making good on its tougher stance， FIRB on Thursday rejected China Nonferrous Metal Mining Co.'s proposal to take a 51.6% stake in rare-earth developer Lynas Corp.

　　FIRB wanted the state-backed Chinese group to take a stake of less than 50% and reduce its director numbers to less than half of the board， but the amendments were a deal breaker for the Chinese， who have walked away.

　　FIRB's Mr. Colmer said cases would be judged on their merits and the government would be flexible， and this appears to be borne out by a number of deals where stakes of more than 50% have been approved.

　　But in most of these cases， the mining companies were wrestling with a cash-flow crisis sparked by the crash in commodities or financing issues exacerbated by frozen debt markets， and desperately needed the Chinese capital on offer， making approval an easier decision for the government.