BHP's New Chairman Expected to Drive a ‘Radical Shift’
- Bernstein says MacKenzie may agree to demerge petroleum unit
- Nasser’s replacement, Elliott seen sharing view on company
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BHP Billiton Ltd.’s new chairman is about to shake things up at the world’s largest mining company, according to Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd., which says that Ken MacKenzie will probably undertake a full-scale review of assets and strategy, and may demerge the petroleum business.
“Despite management’s reluctance to change at this stage, we believe that BHP is about to experience a radical shift in strategy, driven by the arrival, effective Sept. 1, of the new chairman,” analysts including Paul Gait said in a note. MacKenzie used to run a packaging business, and his “detachment from the mining sector makes him, we believe, inevitably far more objective on the best direction BHP should take from now on.”