rio teaming up with bhp?

RIO COULD BE TEAMING UP WITH BHP?
Thomson Financial News - 03.04.09

Rio left the door open to a potential joint venture with BHP in iron ore in Western Australia, even with a Chinalco deal.

'Specifically, the CEO mentioned that Rio is not fettered at either the corporate or asset level to consider a deal with BHP in this regard,' Deutsche Bank analyst Peter O'Connor said in a research note following a briefing with Albanese on Tuesday.

A Rio spokeswoman confirmed on Wednesday that Albanese had made the comments to analysts.

Analysts at Merrill Lynch last week speculated that if the Chinalco deal fell through, Rio could consider selling 18 percent of its Hamersley Iron operation to BHP for $6.5 billion or form a joint venture to operate their iron ore assets.

'An iron ore joint venture with BHP is more workable than a corporate solution,' Albanese said, when asked about the joint venture scenario.

He meant that addressing European Union competition concerns would be easier in a joint venture than with a full corporate takeover, Rio spokeswoman Amanda Buckley said.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/03/04/afx6122946.html