Blakes acts for BHP on Rio deal
Blake Dawson has acted for BHP on the Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton joint venture, announced today.
BLAKE Dawson has acted for BHP on the Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton joint venture, announced today. The New Lawyer reported earlier today that Allens Arthur Robinson is the principal adviser to Rio Tinto. In regards to the rights issue that has been announced, Allens is the co-principal adviser with Linklaters. Freehills is acting for all the underwriters on the Australian aspects of the transactions. Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have struck a joint venture to bring together the two companies' iron ore interests in Western Australia. The landmark joint venture will include all current and future Western Australian iron ore assets and liabilities, and ownership will be evenly split between the two. In order to equalise the contribution value of the two companies, BHP Billiton will pay Rio Tinto $US5.8 billion for equity-type interests at financial closing, Rio Tinto announced today. "We're been proud to be principal adviser to Rio Tinto on these matters and we'll continue to work with them," said Scott Langford, co-relationship partner for Rio Tinto at Allens.