The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will announce on July 22 its findings on a proposal by BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Group to combine Western Australia iron ore operations, the regulator said on its Web site.
Both companies this month responded to information requests from the ACCC after the regulator delayed announcing its findings from May 27.
Rio and BHP, the world’s second and third-largest iron ore exporters, propose combining Australian operations in a 50-50 venture to save at least US$10 billion in costs.
Some European and Asian steelmakers oppose the plan on concern it might reduce competition in the iron ore market.
The venture, agreed to in June last year, will also be reviewed by the European Commission and requires shareholder approval as well.
Besides regulatory hurdles, higher iron ore prices since the announcement and Australia’s proposed 40 percent tax on mining profits may alter the deal, analysts say.
Under the proposed terms, BHP agreed to pay Rio US$5.8 billion to equalize its contribution of assets to the venture.
JPMorgan Chase & Co said in a March report that Rio could ask for between US$7.5 billion to US$9.8 billion based on higher iron ore price estimates.
“The fundamentals of putting the two businesses together are still there,” UBS AG analyst Glyn Lawcock said yesterday by phone. “The joint venture is the biggest project for both companies with the biggest upside potential, compared with other project options.”
The combined value of the entity is estimated at about US$135 billion, Lawcock said.
Since Australia’s government announced its tax proposal on mining profits, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have campaigned against the levy and want the government to exclude existing projects and reconsider the rate.
“Uncertainty revolving around the resources tax has made the tie-up less palatable,” ANZ Banking Group Ltd Senior Commodity Strategist Mark Pervan said by phone. “Valuation parameters would have changed.”
The tax is due to start in 2012, with legislation to be put to parliament late next year if the center-left government is re-elected at a national ballot due by April next year.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”