Melbourne and London
National Australia Bank, UBS Warburg Australia and Westpac Institutional Bank today announced the launch of a multi tranche AUD$ medium term note issue for BHP Billiton.

The announcement follows the successful BHP Billiton investor roadshow in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney last week.

The issue details are as follows:

Three-year tranche
Instrument:  AUD$ floating rate notes
Issue amount:  AUD$250 million
Re-offer spread:  90 day BBSW + 0.47-0.49%
Maturity date:   23 November 2004

Seven-year tranche
Instrument:   AUD$ fixed rate bonds
Issue amount:  AUD$750 million
Re-offer spread:  Swap (mid) + 0.79-0.81%
Maturity date:   15 August 2008

BHP Billiton is rated A (Positive Outlook) by Standard and Poor's and A3 (Positive Outlook) by Moody's Investor Services.

Joint Lead Managers for the issue are National Australia Bank, UBS Warburg Australia and Westpac Institutional Bank. Co-Managers for the issue are ANZ Investment Bank and Royal Bank of Canada, Dominion Securities.

The offer will be priced at 10.30am AEST (or as otherwise notified) on Tuesday 20 November, for settlement Friday 23 November.