Can Japan Stop the Monster Rio Tinto-BHP Billiton Deal?
Posted by Zach Lowe The Japanese government plans to ask the European Union’s antitrust regulators to block the proposed merger between Anglo-Australian mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, citing the possibility of anticompetitive pricing should the world’s first- and third-largest mining companies combine, according to Bloomberg and Reuters. It is “extremely rare” for a government to request regulatory action from another country on behalf of its customers, says Steven Newborn, co-chair of the antitrust and competition group at Weil, Gotshal & Manges. The deal consists of an unsolicited $165 billion offer from BHP which Rio has repeatedly turned down, as The Am Law Daily has covered before. The total value of the deal may now be as low as $70 billion after stock in both companies plunged in recent months, Reuters says. Europe remains the biggest regulatory hurdle for the deal after U.S. antitrust authorities gave it the go-ahead in July. A team from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher
