Woodside Demerger - What are the benefits ?, page-4

It all depends on your view on O&G. I personally believed the left leaning domestic and global pension funds pressured BHP to greenwash this and demerge it. A lot are going down the path of setting standard to not own any fossil fuels, despite using fossil fuels daily themselves. They own the majority of large cap companies so have significant influence. A dumping threat of say

The positive I see to it is the annual proposed synergies of circa $USD400mpa in cost savings between merging these entities. This shocks me it’s so high, ie duplication of administration costs, executives, staff etc being removed for these entities.

BHP tends to flog older mature assets with rehabilitation, so also a good excuse and avoid any risks associated with it. The synergies alone would pay for this, so it’s actually a win.

Equally we share in the upside if you keep the WPL shares. WPL assets are good and tier 1, just like BHP. Plus you have the added benefits of spreading geographical risk across the western nations, and a mix between oil and gas. I like this deal despite the ESG motives pressures by a handful of pension fund Board members playing with others money.