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The collapse of a planned $19.5 billion equity tie-up between Chinese state-owned aluminum giant Chinalco and Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto will not harm Chinese-Australian commercial and trade relations, a Ministry of Commerce spokesman said on Monday.
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Rio walked away from the deal with Chinalco earlier this month and instead proposed a $116 billion iron-ore joint venture with bigger rival BHP Billiton. Rio also launched a $15.2 billion rights issue.
Spokesman Yao Jian said the Rio-BHP deal would have a big impact on global supplies of iron ore, and the concerns of China's steel makers on that score were understandable.
"The individual deal will not affect economic and trade cooperation between China and Australia. "We believe the two governments will create an economic environment which is fairer and non-discriminatory as well as being conducive to corporate development and win-win situations," Yao said.
But Yao added at a news conference that the ministry had not yet received any requests to examine the deal to see whether it complied with the provisions of China's anti-monopoly law.
China's Concern At Rio-BHP Venture Understandable
Yao also added that China's worries about a proposed $116 billion iron-ore joint venture between Anglo-Australian miners Rio Tinto [RTP
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China is the world's largest importer of iron ore and BHP-Rio together would account for 80 percent of Australia's exports of the ore, spokesman Yao told a monthly news conference.
"That will definitely have an impact on the global supply of iron ore, and the concern of Chinese companies and industries is understandable," he said.
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Rio proposed the joint venture, alongside a $15.2 billion rights issue, after walking away from a planned $19.5 billion equity tie-up with Chinese state-owned aluminum giant Chinalco.
Rio and BHP are betting that keeping their iron ore marketing operations separate will ease anti-trust concerns in Europe, but lawyers say the deal could still run afoul of China's new, largely untested anti-monopoly law.
Yao said the ministry had not yet received any requests to examine the venture to see whether it complied with the law.
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