Sydney — One of the last reminders of a merger 16 years ago that created the world’s biggest mining house will be erased on Monday when BHP Billiton changes its name back to just BHP. Dropping the Billiton reflects a move to simplify its corporate structure, the company said, and return to its founding roots in Australia more than a century ago, when it was known as Broken Hill Proprietary Company. BHP, which has operations in 25 countries, will retain its dual listings in Australia and London. BHP’s head of external affairs, Geoff Healy, dismissed suggestions that the name-cropping was in response to a call by activist shareholder Elliott Management for the miner to scrap its dual-listing mechanism in Sydney and London and spin off assets, specifically its US shale oil unit. "There is zero connection with Elliott’s proposals," Healy said. "We’ve been doing this for 18 months." The company is spending an initial A$10m ($7.4m) on an advertising campaign in Australia to promote the sh...
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