BHP Billiton Plc’ share price up, reviews the options for its nickel unit, considers a sale

The largest mining company by market value in the world – BHP Billiton Ltd made an official e-mailed statement today, revealing that it is holding talks for the sale of all or part of its nickel division located in Australia.

BHP Billiton Ltd said in its e-mailed statement, which was cited by Bloomberg: ”The review is considering all options for the long-term future of Nickel West, including the potential sale of all or parts of the business.” Mrs. Eleanor Nichols, who is one of the spokeswomen of the company explained in a telephone interview that talks with interested parties have already begun.

The review of the Nickel Australian units operations comes at a time when the company is considering selling a large number of non-core assets. BHP Billitons Chief Executive Officer Mr. Andrew Mackenzie, who took over the helm in 2013, has been determined to consolidate the company by shifting its focus towards its biggest mines, oil and gas fields in a fewer locations.

As reported by Bloomberg, one of the analysts, who work at RBC – Chris Drew – said in an interview on Wednesday: “For BHP, it’s something that doesn’t move the needle any more. The overall size of the business means it’s not material enough for them to justify maintaining or potentially putting capital into, so it’s better off in someone else’s hands.”

The Chief Executive Officer of BHP Billiton Plc – Mr. Andrew Mackenzie said this week that he is convinced that the company should continue cutting its operations down. The mining company has reported about 6.5 billion dollars of divestments over the past couple of years. As reported by the Financial Times, Mr. Mackenzie shared his vision of the companys future in an interview: “We continue to study the next phase of simplification, including structural options. We will only pursue options that maximise value for BHP Billiton shareholders.”

Over the past two years, BHP Billiton has managed to sell assets that amount to 3.3 billion dollars, including uranium and diamond mines.

BHP Billiton Plc was adding 0.61% to trade at 1 977 pence per share by 11:30 GMT, marking a one year change of +2.97%. The market cap of the company was 109.39 billion pounds as of today.