TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, which is fending off a hostile takeover bid from BHP Billiton, has slammed the bigger miner for alleged “cold calls” to Potash Corp's customers.

In a letter to customers, Potash Corp sales president of PCS sales Stephen Dowdle said it was “inappropriate and highly unethical” for BHP to be contacting customers.

Potash Corp learned that BHP Billiton director of potash marketing Chris Ryder had been calling customers “as part of its hostile takeover effort”, Dowdle said.

He remarked that the calls were “clearly” not to solicit orders for BHP's own Jansen potash project, which is a greenfield mine that will not start production for several years.

“We can only assume that BHP Billiton’s purpose is to sow seeds of doubt and confusion about the future of Potash Corp by raising questions about our ability to do business across the nutrient spectrum, as well as the future location and make-up of our sales organisation,” Dowdle said.

A BHP Billiton spokesperson declined to comment on Dowdle's letter, which was included in an SEC filing on Tuesday.

Potash Corp suprised the market earlier this month with the news that it had received and rejected a takeover proposal from BHP Billiton.

A day later, the Anglo-Australian miner launched a hostile offer for the crop nutrient producer, at $130 a share, or $40-billion on a fully diluted basis, which Potash Corp has called “grossly inadequate”.

There has been a flood of speculation on which company or group might come forward with a rival offer for Potash Corp, and the company itself has, unsurprisingly, been encouraging speculation regarding interest from other parties.

Potash Corp said last week that  it expected superior offers “or other alternatives” to emerge and that it had been approached by, and initiated contact with, a number of third parties. It has not provided any more details.

As BHP CEO Marius Kloppers keeps pointing out, BHP Billiton's is still the only offer on the table.

But Potash Corp shares, which jumped on the news that the company was in play, are still trading well above the $130 a share offer.

The stock, which has lost a bit of ground in the last few days, was up 0,4% again on Tuesday, at $147,17 apiece by 11:36 in New York.

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