Previously known as BHP Billington, BHP was founded in 1885 in Broken Hill, New South Wales. Listed as the world’s largest mining company, BHP focuses on mining, metals and petroleum and its headquarters is in Melbourne. The company as it is known now was formed in 2001 after a merger between the Australian Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited and the Anglo-Dutch Billington plc.

BHP’s recent history reads as a lengthy list of acquisitions, beginning in 2005 with a $7.3billion bid for WMC Resources, the owners of a large mine in South Australia with gold, copper and uranium resources, nickel reserves in Western Australia and a fertiliser plant in Queensland. The takeover was finalised in August of 2005 after acquisition of the final 10% of shares. Further investment in 2010 brought Athabasca Potash into the BHP family with a purchase of $320 million.

To increase output and mineral rights, BHP also tabled a bid of $4.75 billion in cash to Chesapeake Energy for its Fayetteville shale assets. Although the mineral leases currently produce roughly 415 million cubic feet of gas per day, BHP is investing between $800 and $1 billion a year across 10 years to triple production. To further boost its shale resources, BHP acquired Petrohawk Energy for roughly $12.1 billion in cash with an offer of $38.75 per share.

As well as numerous takeovers, BHP have continued to invest in key areas to increase production and productivity. In 2014, the company created a company called South32 who work with aluminium, coal, manganese, nickel and silver assets. By 2017, a number of BHP’s were demerged and placed under the growing South32 brand. Most recently in February of 2017, BHP Billington placed a $2.2 billion investment in the new BP platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

Despite numerous success stories, BHP has faced opposition in some areas of growth. In the same year it invested heavily in the new BP platform, the company attempted to freeze workers’ pay for four years at the Escondida Mine in Chile, resulting in strikes. An attempt to purchase the Rio Tinto Group in November 2007 ultimately proved to be fruitless after an initial bid was rejected and then eventually withdrawn altogether a year later due to the global recession. Another takeover attempt in 2014 for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan was opposed on numerous times, firstly by Potash on account of what they thought was an undervalued bid of $40 billion and then by the Government of Saskatchewan and the Canadian Industry Minister.