BHP Billiton's friendly $12 billion takeover of the US gas company Petrohawk is the group's largest in six years, and its most ambitious foray into the controversial business of shale gas extraction through a process called hydraulic fracturing or fracking.
While the transaction is a coup for Petrohawk – its shares duly rose 65% to match the takeover price – analysts are skeptical about the prospects of BHP Billiton, the world's most valuable miner, making a success of the deal considering its poor track record with acquisitions, its relatively limited experience in the fracking business, environmental concerns and warnings that it is again buying at the top of the cycle.