BHP Billiton PLC (LON:BLT), the world’s biggest miner, is planning to chop its name in half, becoming just BHP as the next step in a restructuring of the group.
In documents released to the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday, the FTSE 100-listed company said it would ask shareholders to vote to rename it BHP Group.
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Last May, the company shifted to a new logo that simply said BHP. The shortened name takes the company back to its origins as Broken Hill Proprietary Co., when it was formed more than 130 years ago around a silver, lead and tin mine in South Australia.
It formally adopted BHP Ltd in Australia. a year before the 2001 merger with UK-listed Billiton PLC, when it took on both names and a dual Australia/UK-headquartered and listed structure.
Last year, US activist hedge fund investor Elliott Advisers – which took a 5% stake in the firm - attempted to get BHP Billiton to consider some radical moves to unlock shareholder value by ending its Anglo-Australian structure, demerge its oil business, and rejig its capital return policy.
The hedge fund firm had to backtrack on its proposal for BHP Billiton to have its main listing in London following opposition from the Australian government, but in July this year, the firm unveiled a US$10.5bn deal to sell its entire US oil and gas business to BP PLC (LON:BP.).
In recent years, BHP Billiton has also consolidated its portfolio of assets around iron ore, copper, and coal.
Shareholders in BHP Billiton plc will be asked to vote on the name change at the annual meeting in October, and owners of Australia-listed BHP Billiton Ltd. at the annual meeting the next month in Adelaide.