Which company was created by the 2001 merger of BHP and Billiton?

The 2001 merger of BHP and Billiton created BHP Billiton.

BHP, originally Broken Hill Proprietary, was an Australian mining company, while Billiton was an international mining group with historic links to Indonesia and the Netherlands. Their 2001 combination used a dual-listed company structure, allowing the two corporate entities to remain separately incorporated while operating as one economic group.

BHP Billiton became one of the world’s largest diversified mining companies, producing commodities including iron ore, copper, coal, petroleum and potash. The structure was unusual because shareholders in the two parent companies held shares in separate legal entities with aligned ownership and governance.

In 2017, the group began simplifying its branding by using BHP. In 2022, BHP completed the unification of its corporate structure under BHP Group Limited. The answer therefore refers specifically to the name created by the original 2001 merger, not the company’s later branding.