Australia Won’t Discuss Assessment of Chinalco-Rio Transaction

Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Australia won’t discuss its investigation into Aluminum Corp. of China’s proposed a $19.5 billion investment in Rio Tinto Group, Treasury general manager of foreign investment Patrick Colmer said. The Foreign Investment Review Board, part of the treasury department, is considering the proposal and must make a recommendation to Treasurer Wayne Swan, who can block the transaction on so-called national interest grounds. “We will be consulting within government both nationally and at a state level, we will be considering the details of that application with the Foreign Investment Review Board,” Colmer told the Senate Economics Committee in Canberra today. “We do have, particularly with these proposals, a lot of potentially sensitive commercial information, we treat all proposals as commercial in confidence.” Australia may hold an inquiry as soon as this week to scrutinize potential acquisitions by Chinese state-owned companies led by Aluminum Corp.’s investment in Rio. China Minmetals Corp. last week made a A$2.6 billion ($1.7 billion) takeover bid for OZ Minerals Ltd. and Hunan Valin Iron & Steel Group yesterday agreed to pay A$1.2 billion for a 16.5 percent stake in Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. China, the world’s biggest consumer of raw materials, is stepping up purchases of mineral producers in Australia, taking advantage of a 36 percent plunge in commodity prices last year. Some 78 percent of Australians oppose investment in Australia by Chinese government-controlled businesses, according to a poll of 1,001 people by the Lowy Institute in September. “Rio Tinto is a dual-listed company and is two entities, one which is registered in London and one which is registered in Australia,” Colmer said when asked how Australia could impose conditions on the transaction. “It also has significant assets and businesses in Australia and businesses and assets of a company can be subject to foreign investment review irrespective of where the actual company is registered.” To contact the reporter on this story: Gemma Daley in Canberra at gdaley@bloomberg.net