BHP plans special dividend

Article Excerpt

BHP BILLITON LTD. (ADR) $47 (New York symbol BHP; Resources sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $75.2 billion; Dividend yield: 5.3%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.bhpbilliton.com) is a leading producer of iron ore, oil and natural gas, copper and coal. BHP recently sold its U.S. shale assets to BP plc (New York symbol BP) for $10.5 billion. That deal was mainly in response to pressure from activist investor Elliott Management; it felt that the business was a poor fit with BHP’s mining operations. The company will return $10.4 billion of that cash to shareholders. Of that, it has earmarked $5.2 billion for share buybacks. However, due to taxation rules, the offer is only open to Australian investors. Shareholders in Canada, the U.S. and other countries who hold BHP American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are not eligible to participate. The company expects to complete the buyback plan by December 17, 2018. BHP also plans to pay a special dividend totalling as much as $5.2 billion. The company…