China Min:To Review Rio-BHP JV If Needed;Won't Affect Trade Ties
June 12 2009 - 5:30AM
Dow Jones News
China's Ministry of Commerce said Friday that Anglo-Australian
miners Rio Tinto Plc (RTP) and BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) would be
expected to undergo the Chinese government's antimonopoly review if
the nature of the two companies' joint venture requires it.
But the issue isn't likely to affect trade relations between the
two countries, an official in the ministry's media department told
Dow Jones Newswires.
The ministry's position is considerably tamer than the Chinese
rhetoric reported by the Sydney Morning Herald Friday, which cited
another commerce ministry official as saying that China may impose
trade sanctions against BHP and Rio Tinto if they pursued the joint
venture without Chinese regulatory approval.
"According to China's antitrust law, we can veto such a merger
agreement if the concentration of overseas business operations will
affect domestic market competition," the Sydney Morning Herald
quoted Ma Yu, director of the Ministry of Commerce's foreign
investment department, as saying.
The official at the ministry's media department said Ma didn't
represent the ministry when he made his remarks.
"We have not received much information on the new joint venture
to date, so we cannot comment yet on how it would affect monopoly
issues," the official said.
BHP and Rio Tinto entered into a joint venture for their iron
ore supply operations last week after Rio Tinto terminated its
US$19.5 billion planned alliance with Aluminum Corp. of China, or
Chinalco.
-By Chuin-Wei Yap and Juan Chen, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 6588
5848; chuin-wei.yap@dowjones.com