Convincing watchdogs that mingling $116bn of assets was in no way anti-competitive was never going to be easy. After announcing plans to form an iron ore joint venture in June, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton stressed that what they had in mind was a simple, no-frills production JV, wrapping contractual obligations around pooled assets without changing any underlying ownership. They'd dig it up together, they'd sell it individually. But clause 4.8, under which up to 15 per cent of output was to be sold by the joint venture itself, separately from both partners, muddied that picture.
要让监管机构相信，将1160亿美元资产合并到一起不会损害市场竞争，这绝不是一件容易的事。在力拓(Rio Tinto)与必和必拓(BHP Billiton)今年6月宣布成立铁矿石合资公司的计划后，两家公司强调，他们想设立的是一个简单的、仅从事生产的合资企业，通过合并后的资产共同完成两家的销售合同，但并不改变实际所有权。他们会一起挖矿，然后分别出售。但是根据协议第4.8条，最多15%的产量将由合资企业单独出售，独立于两家合作伙伴之外。这就把人搞糊涂了。