BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd - joint venture in Western Australian iron ore production
Type of assessment
Informal Review
Reference
37803
Acquirer(s)
BHP Billiton Ltd
Target(s)
Rio Tinto Ltd
Industry
Iron ore
Outcome of assessment
Withdrawn
Total review days *
135
Commenced public review
7th December 2009
Date completed
18th October 2010
Statement of issues
Statement of Issues 25th March 2010 D10+3397775.pdf (272.0 KB)
Review timeline
Date
Event
7th December 2009
ACCC commenced review under the Merger Review Process Guidelines.
15th January 2010
Closing date for submissions from interested parties.
16th February 2010
ACCC requested further information from the proposed joint venture parties - ACCC timeline suspended. Former proposed date for the announcement of the ACCC's findings of 24 February 2010 delayed.
25th March 2010
ACCC published a Statement of Issues outlining preliminary competition concerns.
30th March 2010
ACCC requested further information from the proposed joint venture parties.
31st March 2010
Former proposed date for announcement of ACCC's findings of 28 April 2010, amended to allow time for BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to respond to the ACCC's information request of 30 March 2010, and for the ACCC to consider the proposed joint venture parties' responses.
14th April 2010
Closing date for submissions relating to Statement of Issues.
16th April 2010
ACCC timeline suspended to allow the proposed joint venture parties additional time to respond to the ACCC's information request of 30 March 2010.
11th May 2010
ACCC requested further information from Rio Tinto.
13th May 2010
ACCC received responses to information requested on 30 March 2010. ACCC requested further information from BHP Billiton. ACCC timeline remains suspended.
14th May 2010
Former proposed date for announcement of ACCC's findings of 27 May 2010 amended to allow the proposed joint venture parties to respond to the ACCC's information requests of 11 and 13 May 2010 and to provide information in addition to that requested by the ACCC.
7th June 2010
ACCC received response to information requested on 13 May 2010 from BHP Billiton.
9th June 2010
ACCC received response to information requested on 11 May 2010 from Rio Tinto. ACCC timeline recommenced.
7th July 2010
The former proposed date for the announcement of the ACCC's findings of 22 July 2010 suspended at the request of the joint venture parties to allow them to make additional submissions to the ACCC.
15th September 2010
ACCC timeline remains suspended following a request by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto that the ACCC delay making a decision regarding the proposed joint venture until after the parties have had further discussions with overseas regulators and provided additional submissions to the ACCC.
18th October 2010
BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto announced they had terminated their joint venture agreement. Consequently, the ACCC ceased its review of the proposed joint venture.
* Total Review days = Total business days less public holidays and time during which the review was suspended.
