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BHP Billiton CEO Marius KloppersWILLIAM WEST/AFP / Getty Images

Potash Corp. is a chance at redemption for Marius Kloppers.

The chief executive officer of BHP had been on the job for less than six weeks when, in November of 2007, he launched an audacious and unsolicited $66-billion (U.S.) bid for Rio Tinto PLC that would have created, far and away, the world's largest mining company.

He fought for a year to get the brash deal through, spending $450-million in the process, until failing under the weight of the credit crunch and opposition from China, a huge customer that didn't like the deal.

Now, for the second time in his short career as CEO, Mr. Kloppers has played the hostile card in a major takeover battle. In offering $38.6-billion for Potash Corp., he has put his reputation on the line. No chief executive wants to strike out twice on such high-stakes deal making, especially when being an astute buyer and tactician is a key part of his job description.

As head of BHP, Mr. Kloppers' biggest task is not getting commodities such as iron ore, coal, petroleum and diamonds out of the earth, something that BHP does at sites spanning the globe, but wisely investing the billions of dollars a month that pour into the company's coffers from the sales of those commodities. BHP has to find mines to buy or build to continue to employ that capital.

"That is our mission in life," Mr. Kloppers, 47, said Wednesday in the wake of making the hostile bid.

It's an all-consuming mission, given the amount of cash that the company's production creates.

BHP had $5.7-billion in operating cash flow in the last six months of 2009, according to its most recent financial statements, and UBS analysts expect that when the company reports its results for the fiscal year that ended in June, the full-year total will top $15-billion.

The problem is not getting any smaller. In 2011, UBS predicts Mr. Kloppers will have almost $22-billion of operating cash flow to invest and that will soar to $35-billion in 2012.

That river of cash helps explain why banks are willing to loan BHP $40-billion or more to do the deal, in a world where access to credit is often still constrained.

Mr. Kloppers, South African by birth and raised in Johannesburg, is by all accounts fond of the simple life away from the office. He's a vegetarian with a neat-freak tendency who enjoys televised cricket and time with his wife and three daughters. He's also a rabid soccer fan, so much so that preparations for the deal had to work around the World Cup schedule.

The BHP chief has had a rapid climb through the corporate ranks. After earning a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pretoria, he earned a doctorate in the subject from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He worked in the field, but the self-described "late starter" decided he didn't want to be an engineer, so he took an MBA at INSEAD, one of the world's largest business graduate schools.

Management degree in hand, he became a consultant before joining in 1993 the company that would later become Billiton PLC. Able to speak English, Afrikaans, Dutch, French and some German, he had the tools to thrive in a global company.

When BHP merged with Billiton to form BHP Billiton in 2001, Mr. Kloppers was already known as one of the hot managers in the Billiton stable. Others that had come up with Billiton left after the merger, including Mick Davis, who now runs miner Xstrata PLC, but Mr. Kloppers stuck it out. It paid off, as in 2007 he was named chief executive.

As a would-be deal maker, Mr. Kloppers has long been a favourite of the banks. When he was an underdog vying for the top job at BHP Billiton, he was said to be the pick of Wall Street, which admired his swashbuckling nature.

That's perhaps no surprise. With his aggressive style, he's a potential fountain of profit for banks. Estimates of fees top $150-million for the bankers advising BHP and those defending Potash, should a deal be consummated. On top of that, there's the billions in interest BHP will pay to borrow the money for the bid.

In return for the cost and risk, Mr. Kloppers stands to gain two things if he wins Potash Corp.: He will prove that he can prevail in a big takeover fight, but also gain control of a business that would transform BHP overnight from a bit player in potash to No. 1.

However, Mr. Kloppers' ambition and the size of his chequebook have some concerned that he may lose sight of Potash Corp.'s worth.

"BHP's enormous capacity to pay gives rise to the risk for overpayment for [Potash Corp.] especially with its strong desire to enter into the world of potash as number one producer," said Tony Robson, a BMO Nesbitt Burns analyst who covers BHP.

Mr. Kloppers was adamant Wednesday that there is no pressure to pay up to ensure the deal gets done, even as the market sent shares of Potash Corp. higher for a second straight day on anticipation that he will have to raise the price. The stock closed at $147.93 in New York, almost 14 per cent above the BHP bid.

"I feel absolutely no compulsion to ever do anything that is not value accretive to the BHP Billiton shareholders."

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