Saturday Papers: Beijing eyes counterbid for PotashCorp - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* The Chinese government has backed Sinochem, the state-owned chemicals giant, to pursue a counterbid that could trump BHP Billiton’s $39bn hostile offer for PotashCorp.

* Petrobras, Brazil’s national oil company, is preparing to raise as much as R$55bn ($32bn) from minority shareholders in what would be the world’s biggest share sale.

* BP on Friday said it had spent almost $2bn in the past month responding to its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, taking its bill for the catastrophe to $8bn.

The Daily Telegraph

* The long-awaited naming of the identity of Land Securities' partner for the building of the "Walkie Talkie" skyscraper in the City of London is expected later this month.

* Workers at Coca-Cola's bottling plant in Edmonton, north London, are to mount a series of one-day strikes in protest at what Unite, the trade union, called the company's "derisory" pay offer.

* Dana Petroleum has a valuation that the oil explorer hopes will force South Korea’s national oil company to raise its £1.87bn offer.

The Guardian

* Bid talk swirls around BP as it nears final cap on leaking well; ExxonMobil discussed politics of BP takeover with the White House.

* 3Par boss nets £65m fortune from hi-tech bidding war.

The Independent