BHP Group Limited — Major Shareholding Notification 2009

Dec 2, 2009

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Company Secretariat

Issued by: BHP Billiton Plc To: London Stock Exchange cc: New York Stock Exchange Swiss Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange JSE Limited Deutsche Bank UBS Zurich Date: 2 December 2009 For Release: Immediately Contact: Elizabeth Hobley +44 20 7802 4054

Notification of Major Interest in Shares

The following notification was received yesterday, 1 December 2009, by BHP Billiton Plc from Legal & General Group Plc relating to major interests in shares of BHP Billiton Plc.

BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077 BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209 Registered in Australia Registered in England and Wales Registered Office: 180 Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000 Registered Office: Neathouse Place, London SW1V 1BH United Kingdom Telephone +61 1300 55 4757 Facsimile +61 3 9609 3015 Telephone +44 20 7802 4000 Facsimile +44 20 7802 4111

The BHP Billiton Group is headquartered in Australia

Financial Services Authority

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TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARES
1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer
of existing shares to which voting rights are
BHP Billiton Plc
attached:
2. Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):
An acquisition or disposal of voting rights Yes
An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which may result in the
acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached.
An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic effect to qualifying
financial instruments
An event changing the breakdown of voting rights
Other (please
specify):
3. Full name of person(s) subject to the
Legal & General Group Plc (L&G)
notification obligation:
4. Full name of shareholder(s) Legal & General Assurance (Pensions
(if different from 3.): Management) Limited (PMC)
5. Date of the transaction and date on
which the threshold is crossed or 30 November 2009
reached:
6. Date on which issuer notified: 1 December 2009
7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or
reached: From 4% - 3% (L&G)
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8. Notified details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares

8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:	8. Notified details:
A: Voting rights attached to shares
Class/type of shares if possible using the ISIN CODE	Situation previous to the triggering transaction		Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
	Number of Shares	Number of Voting Rights	Number of shares	Number of voting rights		% of voting rights
				Direct	Indirect	Direct	Indirect
ORD USD 0.50	100,123,908 (As on 8/05/08)		88,190,706	88,190,706		3.99

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments	B: Qualifying Financial Instruments	B: Qualifying Financial Instruments	B: Qualifying Financial Instruments	B: Qualifying Financial Instruments
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Type of financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise/ Conversion Period	Number of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised/ converted.	% of voting rights

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments	C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Type of financial instrument	Exercise price	Expiration date	Exercise/ Conversion period	Number of voting rights instrument refers to	% of voting rights
					Nominal	Delta

Total (A+B+C)

Total (A+B+C)	Total (A+B+C)
Number of voting rights	Percentage of voting rights
88,190,706	3.99

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable:

Legal & General Group Plc (Direct and Indirect) (Group)

Legal & General Investment Management (Holdings) Limited (LGIMH) (Direct and Indirect)

Legal & General Investment Management Limited (Indirect) (LGIM)

Legal & General Group Plc (Direct) (L&G) (88,190,706 –3.99 % = LGAS, LGPL & PMC)

Legal & General Investment Management (Holdings) Limited Legal & General Insurance Holdings Limited (Direct) (Direct) (LGIMHD) (79,211,858 –3.58 % = PMC) (LGIH)

Legal & General Assurance (Pensions Management) Limited Legal & General Assurance Society Limited (LGAS & (PMC) (79,211,858 –3.58 % = PMC) LGPL)

Legal & General Pensions Limited (Direct) (LGPL)

Proxy Voting: 10. Name of the proxy holder: N/A 11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease N/A to hold: 12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold N/A voting rights:

13. Additional information:	Notification using the total voting rights figure of 2,207,007,544
14. Contact name:	Helen Lewis (LGIM)
15. Contact telephone number:	020 3124 3851