RIO and BHP Announce WA Iron Ore JV

[Chris.R_WA]

No one has started a thread on this yet...even though it is potentially the biggest corporate merger in Australia for the last decade.

The announcement was made to the ASX this morning, and seems to have been kept very quiet prior to now.

What does this mean for RIO/BHP?

In terms of share prices -
In terms of any job losses from the amalgamation of mines/services -
In terms of the commodity prices the combined entity can demand from China -

Interested in everyones opinion...

Cheers, Chris

 

[josko]

Well share prices today are up over 10% so happy days on existing RIO shares..........

I had transferred money to my Bell account to trade on more RIO today as there was a nice drop yesterday. I missed the boat for today.

Regards JO

 

[HiEquity]

What does this mean for RIO/BHP?
In terms of share prices -

Up, up and away! Seriously the savings to be made in the Pilbara going forward from this amalgamation are pretty big - I believe their estimate of $10bill in NPV would be "conservative"

In terms of any job losses from the amalgamation of mines/services -

Negligible compared to all the work to flow to complete the amalgamation and getting everything singing along sweetly - a lot of capital will still need to be spent to realise these benefits...

In terms of the commodity prices the combined entity can demand from China -

Ownership by your customers was just a stupid idea! This is much, much better for pricing power. These mines are already some of the lowest cost operations in the world so the savings to be made will just flow straight through to the bottom line of both Rio and BHP. The benefits for the Pilbara will also be considerable and we know that it needs them!

It's all good from my POV!

 

[Pushka]

Top Cropper will be pleased - must admit I am too - have topped up on BHP at its lows, and have seen a rather sweet gain today. Fortescue is also riding on the coat tails too! Happy days.

 

[topcropper]

Yes, best day I've had for a while.

See ya's.

 

[Aaron Sice]

yeah, that RIO short i was on had to be cancelled for a loss - i was on a put spread with the rising price of oil.

ah well, win some, lose some.