Pursuant to the jointventureagreements, BHP Billiton will first separately offer to the jointventure parties its interest in each of the Core and Buffer Zones on the same terms as those agreed to by Harry Winston.
Flush with cash, and still in need of advanced technology in many areas, I believed that Chinese companies would forsake license and jointventureagreements, the more traditional means of obtaining this technology, and instead opt to buy the companies themselves.