Hedge Fund Digs Into World’s Biggest Miner BHP: QuickTake Q&A
BySince BHP Billiton was formed at the turn of the century, the world’s biggest mining company has had two legal entities in Sydney and London. Now, billionaire Paul Elliott Singer’s hedge fund, Elliott Management Corp., wants an overhaul of the business, including turning BHP into one company, headquartered in Australia. The proposal, which the company has rejected, risks further clashes between the occasionally activist investor and the $97 billion mining giant.
1. Why is BHP listed in Sydney and London?
It’s the result of the 2001 merger of Australia’s BHP Ltd. and the U.K.’s Billiton Plc. The firm has two headquarters and two stock-market listings, but is run as a single entity under the same management and board of directors. The structure was put in place in part to avoid a large tax bill that would have resulted from BHP’s acquisition of Billiton. Following the 2015 spinoff of the company’s aluminum, nickel, manganese and other assets into South32 Ltd., BHP’s U.K. entity accounts for just 10.3 percent of the company’s revenue, according to New York-based Elliott…
Hedge Fund Digs Into World’s Biggest Miner BHP: QuickTake Q&A
