Despite the cancellation of the joint venture with Rio Tinto, the long term A1 credit rating of the BHP Billiton Ltd has been kept on review for probable downgrading by Moody’s Investor Service.

They commented that BHP would lose the future synergy benefits due to the cancellation of the proposed joint venture between Rio’s West Australian iron ore operations and BHP.

It was estimated that the joint venture would create revenue more that $US 10 billion. On Monday, the two mining giants declared that they have cancelled the tie-up due to the regulatory concerns. It is Moody’s comment that the benefits gained by the BHP would not have any influence on its ratings and it would have benefitted over many years by the synergy.

After the miner made a US$40 billion aggressive bid for Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, Moody's Investor Service put the long-term rating of BHP and its subsidiaries on review for possible downgrade in August 2010. When the proposal of joint venture was mooted, Moody’s Investor Service said that they may lower the credit rating of BHP due the sizable nature of the business transaction.