BHP Billiton Ltd chief executive Marius Kloppers has acknowledged that some investors are “sitting on the sideline” while they await regulatory rulings on its takeover offer for Rio Tinto Ltd.

The comment came after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said on Friday that the world’s biggest mining takeover may raise competition concerns in the global iron ore market.

Mr Kloppers accepted that iron ore presented the largest synergy opportunity from the proposed $163 billion deal.

But he declined to specify whether the deal would be worth doing if it couldn’t merge the iron ore businesses.

“It’s very hard to speculate on things that we don’t think are going to happen and that are not the base line that we are planning around,” Mr Kloppers told ABC television on Sunday.

In a sign investors are less confident the bid will succeed, the ratio of the value of Rio Tinto shares to BHP Billiton shares this month fell to under three for the first time since the bid was launched.

BHP is offering 3.4 of its shares for each Rio Tinto share.

Mr Kloppers pinned the change in ratio on BHP’s strong performance, but added that some investors were holding out for more information on antitrust rulings.

“I think it’s a combination of how our commodities versus Rio’s commodities have developed,” he said.

“And I think it’s fair to say that investors are still waiting, sitting on the sideline a little bit, to see how we clear our regulatory pre-conditions on this deal.”

European Union competition regulators last month said that their initial investigations had “indicated that the proposed takeover raises serious doubts” as to its compatibility with the global iron ore market.

A merger between BHP Billiton, the world’s third biggest producer of iron ore, and Rio Tinto, the second biggest, would create an entity producing over a third of the world’s iron ore.

The ACCC said on Friday that a merged firm “may have the ability and incentive to influence global supply and global prices for iron ore lump and fines”.

“Steel makers in Australia and overseas could face significantly higher prices for iron ore than BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto would achieve in the absence of the proposed acquisition,” it said.

The ACCC has asked for further industry submissions by September 5 and will give a decision by October 1. European, US and South African regulators are expected to make their decisions by the end of the calendar year.

Last month US regulators gave partial approval to the deal.

BHP Billiton, which is the world’s largest diversified mining company, on August 18 reported a 14.7 per cent rise in annual profit to $US15.39 billion ($A17.8 billion).

BHP’s petroleum division – the key differentiator between it and Rio Tinto – was the second biggest earner for the group.

“I think our result showed that petroleum is a key part of the portfolio,” Mr Kloppers said.

“And we really see our results as laying the foundation for more strong performance to come, and for the diversified low cost portfolio to work for us.”

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