EUROFER welcomes the decision as a “victory for the market”
EUROFER welcomes the decision of BHP to step back from its bid to take over Rio Tinto. “The objections made by the European Commission on the basis of our concerns have finally forced BHP to withdraw from its proposed merger with Rio Tinto. We could not see how any remedies would have been sufficient to make this merger work. The degree of concentration and control of the market was simply too great”, says EUROFER’s director general Gordon Moffat.
EUROFER for more than one year at all stages pointed out that it could not accept a merger of two of the three mining companies which dominate almost 75% of the world market for seaborne iron ore. Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are the number two and three in the world’s iron ore business after Vale (Companhia Vale do Rio Doce). The proposed merger would have given the combined company a market share of almost 40 % of the seaborne iron ore market. Vale already has more than 33 %.
Represented by EUROFER, the European steel industry is the world leader in its sector with a turnover of EUR 140 billion and direct employment of 370 thousand people, producing 200 million tons of steel per year.
Contact
Gordon Moffat, Director General +32 2 738 79 26 (g.moffat@eurofer.be)
Axel Eggert, Director Public Affairs +32 2 738 79 34 (a.eggert@eurofer.be)