Wednesday, October 13, 2010

BHP (NYSE:BHP), Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) Meeting with EU Regulators

The fate of the proposed iron ore joint venture between BHP (NYSE:BHP) and Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) will be pushed along by the meeting the companies will have with EU antitrust regulators.

After the meeting, which will be near the end of October, the European Commission will make a decision on whether to allow the $116 billion venture to proceed.

What will be determined is if it is anti-competitive or not.

Both companies will keep their marketing operations separate, which they say should help with competitive concerns.

While a number of other countries are also reviewing the deal, Europe is considered the toughest regulatory environment, and the deal would probably go through if it passes there.

Opposing the deal are the European steelmakers' lobbying group Eurofer, which includes steel producing giants like Germany's ThyssenKrupp (OTC:TYEKF) and ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT).

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