BHP LIMITED BILLITON PLC
Melbourne, 1000, Friday, 15 June 2001
EUROPEAN COMMISSION APPROVES MERGER OF BHP AND BILLITON
BHP Limited and Billiton Plc announce that the European Commission has
provided the
necessary regulatory approvals for the merger of the two companies to
proceed. The companies
are confident that the remaining non-Australian regulatory approvals will be
obtained shortly.
Information on the effective implementation date for the merger, as well as
the record date and
timing of the issue of bonus shares to BHP shareholders will be announced
within a short period
of time.
Following completion of the merger, BHP Billiton will issue further
information to the
investment market, relating to the timing and nature of financial reporting,
as well as additional
information on the organisational structure.
ENQUIRIES:
BHP
Australia (media):
Mandy Frostick, Manager Media Relations, BHP Limited
Tel: +61 3 9609 4157 Mobile: +61 419 546 245
Fax: +61 3 9602 4121 email: frostick.mandy.mj@bhp.com
Australia (investor relations):
Robert Porter, Vice President Investor Relations, BHP Limited
Tel: + 61 3 9609 3540 Mobile: +61 419 587456
Fax: + 61 3 9609 3006
United States (investor relations):
Francis McAllister, Vice President Investor Relations, BHP Limited
Tel: +1 713 961 8625 Mobile: +713 480 3699
email: mcallister.francis.fr@bhp.com
Billiton
London (media and investor relations):
Marc Gonsalves, General Manager , Billiton
Tel: +44 20 7747 3956 Mobile: +44 7768 264 950
Fax: +44 20 7747 3914 email: mgonsalves@Billiton.com
Johannesburg (media and investor relations):
Michael Campbell, Manager Corporate Affairs, Billiton
Tel: +27 11 376 3360 Mobile: +27 82 458 2587
Fax: +27 11 376 3362 email: mcampbell@Billiton.co.za