Chinalco may spend over $4 bln for acquisitions

HONG KONG, March 25 (Reuters) - China's state-owned aluminium giant Chinalco may spend 20-30 billion yuan ($2.82-4.23 billion) or more this year on acquisitions at home and abroad, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

"The group will focus on resources acquisition and control both in China and overseas," Chinalco's president, Xiao Yaqing, told the paper. "The investment may be even bigger than between 20-30 billion yuan."

Xiao did not disclose specific targets but told the paper non-ferrous metals would be the main focus.

Chinalco last month teamed up with Alcoa (AA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) from the United States to buy a $14 billion stake in Rio Tinto Plc (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in what is seen as an attempt to prevent the mining giant from being taken over by its rival, BHP Billiton (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Xiao said last week that Chinalco had assets worth more than 300 billion yuan ($42.26 billion) and that it had hired advisers for possible domestic and foreign acquisitions involving base metal resources.

Chinalco is the parent of Aluminium Corp of China (Chalco) (601600.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (2600.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

(Reporting by Nao Nakanishi; editing by Ken Wills)