Analysts must have wondered whether it was actually April the first and not the first day of November this morning, as news broke that an obscure company, which hardly anyone had heard of, was making a $450bn bid for Exxon Mobil.
Chinese company, King Win Laurel, filed papers with the New York Securities and Exchange Commission offering to buy the world’s largest oil company.
But the deal left analysts, and the oil giant’s management scratching their heads. A year ago, it was a similar story when a company called King Win Laurel International made a bid for Australian telecom giant Telstra, but nothing came of the offer, which was dismissed as a hoax.
Some suggested that the firm was in fact a front for the Chinese government, although Uncle Sam is not likely to welcome a bid for its largest company by turnover during the last quarter, with open arms.
But Reuters has done some quick investigating, and found the headquarters of the Chinese company. Apparently the address sited in the SEC filing is a 14th floor flat of a building in Beijing. A neighbour reckoned the flat cost around £150 a month to rent, and a ‘nice young’ man in his mid 20s lived there.
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