LONDON – The mining giant BHP Billiton said on Tuesday that it planned to spin off several assets into a new global metals and mining company to be listed in Australia.
The new company is expected to have assets in five countries and to focus on aluminum, coal, manganese, nickel and silver. A number of the assets to be spun off had been acquired by BHP as part of the merger with Billiton in 2001.
BHP Billiton said that it would continue to focus on its large, long-life iron ore, copper, coal, petroleum and potash basins following the reorganization.
The company first announced in April that it was considering structural changes to its business. Last week it said that its preferred option would be to seek a spinoff of some assets.
Ahead ofthe announcement on Tuesday, analysts had estimated that the company could carve off as much as $14 billion.
In the past two years, the company has sold off about $6.5 billion in assets as it aimed to simplify its structure.
The metals spinoff, to be achieved via a process known as a demerger, would allow BHP Billiton to reduce costs and improve the productivity of its remaining operations more quickly, the company said.
BHP Billiton’s chief executive, Andrew Mackenzie, said in a statement that the spinoff would allow the company to “move towards a simpler portfolio” and become “a higher-margin, higher-return business.”
The assets set to remain with BHP Billiton following the spinoff accounted for 96 percent of the company’s underlying earnings before income tax in the fiscal year that ended June 30.
“We believe the proposed demerger, if implemented, will accelerate the simplification of the group’s portfolio, provide investors with choice and unlock value in both companies,” Jacques A. Nasser, the BHP Billiton chairman, said in a statement.
The spinoff will require regulatory and shareholder approval. It is expected to be completed in the first half of 2015.
Shares of BHP Billiton declined 3.1 percent to 20.02 pounds, or about $33.48, in early trading in London on Tuesday.
BHP Billiton’s shareholders are expected to receive 100 percent of the shares of the new company through a distribution.
The new company is expected to be listed in Australia and to have a secondary listing in South Africa. The spinoff company would probably seek to have American Depositary Receipts traded in the United States as well.
David Crawford, who will retire from BHP Billiton’s board in November, is expected to serve as chairman of the new company, and Graham Kerr, BHP Billiton’s chief financial officer, is expected to serve as the new company’s chief executive.
The new company will be based in Perth, Australia, and will have about 24,000 employees and contractors.
Separately, BHP Billiton said that its fiscal year 2014 profit rose 23.2 percent to $13.8 billion, up from $11.2 billion a year earlier.
BHP Billiton, based in Melbourne, Australia, is the world’s largest metallurgical coal producer and one of the largest producers of iron ore and copper concentrate.