Shares in mining giant BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) rose nearly 5 percent on Monday, after one of its largest shareholders put pressure on the company to adopt a restructuring plan.
Hedge fund manager Elliott Advisors said it had sent a plan to the firm’s directors, which would involve dropping the company’s London listing and becoming an Australian-headquartered and tax resident company.
“Despite being a leading global resources company with a portfolio of best-in-class large-scale diversified mining assets, in recent years BHP as an investment has underperformed a portfolio of comparable companies,” the investor wrote in a letter to the board.
“In our view, most of BHP’s underperformance in terms of total shareholder returns has been driven by the incomplete status of management’s streamlining and value-optimisation of BHP’s group structure and asset portfolio.”
The plan also involves de-merging BHP’s US oil business and returning more money to investors.
“The goal is to provide details of the BHP shareholder value unlock plan to all of BHP’s shareholders, so that BHP can engage openly with all parties on the plan,” Elliott continued in their statement.
BHP shares are currently up 4.70 percent on the London market, at 60.22 pence per share (1041GMT).