The Australian Taxation Office has today issued Class Ruling CR 2015/40 with respect to the tax implications of the South32 demerger for Australian resident shareholders of BHP Billiton Limited.

The class ruling confirms that the receipt of South32 shares under the demerger is not taxable for Australian resident shareholders of BHP Billiton Limited. Such shareholders will be sent a letter providing further detail on the class ruling to assist in calculating the tax cost base allocation of BHP Billiton and South32 shares. A copy of the shareholder letter is attached to this announcement.

A guide to the general tax implications of the demerger is set out in Section 8 of the Shareholder Circular dated 16 March 2015. The Shareholder Circular, as well as further demerger tax information, is available at www.bhpbilliton.com/demerger.

BHP Billiton announced the implementation of the demerger of South32 was completed on 25 May 2015.

For more information, please see our News Release and Letter to Shareholders.