Canada's Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. is contemplating partnerships with international companies that could put mutually a contending offer to Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton's hostile $38.6 billion bid for the fertilizer giant, according to a report Friday.

Sovereign wealth funds, Chinese banks and other national financial institutions could fund a global conglomerate to make a counter-offer to keep Potash out of BHP's hands, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

"I am not saying that we are opposed to a sale, but what I am saying is we are opposed to a steal of the company," Doyle said, responding to the initial $130-a-share offer, which BHP now plans to take directly to Potash Corp shareholders.

Most investors are betting Doyle will get what he wants, and if he plays his cards right, that could mean a half-billion-dollar payday for himself.

BHP /quotes/comstock/13*!bhp/quotes/nls/bhp (BHP 67.37, +0.02, +0.03%) /quotes/comstock/22x! e: bhp (AU: BHP 37.78, -0.52, -1.36%) on Wednesday took its $130-a-share offer to Potash /quotes/comstock/13*!pot/quotes/nls/pot (POT 148.90, +0.06, +0.04%) shareholders after the Canadian firm's board of directors rejected the offer, saying it "grossly undervalued" the world's largest fertilizer company.

Meanwhile, a separate report Friday in the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post said a Chinese company could be putting together a competing bid for Potash.

the report quoted J. P. Morgan's Ian Henderson as saying that China is "dependent upon potash exports, so they are a big customer of Potash Corp."

According to South China Morning Post China's biggest chemical trader, Sinochem Group, in addition to a sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. and Hong Kong-listed Fertilizer Company Sinofert Holdings --
22% owned by Potash -- were amongst probable bidders from China.