Australia's ACCC Suspends Date For BHP, Rio Tinto Iron JV Ruling

7th Jul 2010 08:21

MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--Australia's competition regulator has once again suspended the date for a ruling on the planned iron ore joint venture between BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Rio Tinto Ltd. (RTP), this time to allow the miners to make further submissions. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had been planning to release its finding on July 22, but said Wednesday on its website it had suspended the decision, "at the request of the joint venture parties to allow them to make additional submissions". The regulator had originally planned to give its findings in February, but has repeatedly suspended its timeline as it awaited more information. The latest delay, albeit at the request of the joint venture partners, will underline a market view that the ACCC is subjecting the iron ore joint venture to a more searching examination than had been expected. European Commission approval is still seen as the biggest potential hurdle to the planned production joint venture in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, which BHP and Rio Tinto say will deliver more than US$10 billion in synergies. -By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires: 613-9292-2094; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 07, 2010 03:21 ET (07:21 GMT)