Billiton calls off bid.BHP Billiton BHP Billiton is the world's largest mining company.[1] Its origin is in the 2001 merger of Australia's Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) and the UK's Billiton, which has a South African background. The result is a dual-listed company. has called off its bid for rival miner Rio Tinto Rio Tinto may refer to:
The firm said the call had come from the European Commission, which had been due to rule in January on whether the two Anglo-Australian firms could merge. Marius Kloppers, BHP Billiton chief executive, said: "BHP Billiton is very focused on balance sheet strength. Accordingly, the greater debt exposure of the combination plus the difficulty of divesting assets have increased the risks to shareholder value to an unacceptable level. BHP's offer was worth pounds 44bn based on Monday's closing share prices. The news that BHP had scrapped its bid sent shares in the firm up 15% to 1129p on the London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange London marketplace for securities. It was formed in 1773 by a group of stockbrokers who had been doing business informally in local coffeehouses. , but Rio Tinto's shares plunged by nearly 40% to 1498p. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion