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

7th Jul 2010 08:58

(Adds comments by BHP Billiton, analyst) By Alex Wilson Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 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 further delay at the request of the miners will underline a market view that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is subjecting the iron ore joint venture to a more searching examination than had been expected, although the focus for the deal remains on European Commission approval. The ACCC 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. A spokeswoman for BHP said the company continued to cooperate fully with the regulators and would provide information as requested. One analyst, who asked not to be named, said the fact that the suspension had been at the request of the miners so that they can submit more information suggests they may feel deliberations aren't going their way. "It has a bit of a smell about it, and it may be that in discussions with the ACCC they felt that their case wasn't strong enough," he said. He said 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. Rio Tinto wasn't immediately available to comment. -By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires: 613-9292-2094; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 07, 2010 03:58 ET (07:58 GMT)