By David Winning 

SYDNEY -- BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company by market value, said it would return $10.4 billion to shareholders via a stock buyback and special dividend.

The move comes after completing the sale of its U.S. onshore oil and natural gas assets.

BHP -- which has faced pressure from activist investor Elliott Management Corp. to improve returns -- said the latest outlays would bring the total cash handed back to shareholders over the past two years to $21 billion.

The Melbourne-based company said it planned to buy back shares worth $5.2 billion and pay a special dividend to shareholders totaling $5.2 billion. It said the capital-management program would begin immediately.

On Wednesday, BHP completed the sale of the bulk of its U.S. oil and gas unit to BP PLC, ending a costly saga that left the company roughly $20 billion worse off.

Write to David Winning at david.winning@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 31, 2018 18:22 ET (22:22 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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