BHP Billiton’s offer for 72.99% of WMC’s issued shares was accepted. The company has also acquired a further 3.26% of WMC’s issued shares as a result of on-market purchases Friday.

BHP Billiton has an aggregate interest of 76.25% in WMC’s issued shares. This doesn’tinclude BHP Billiton’s 4.31% economic exposure to WMC shares under its cash settled swap contracts with Deutsche Bank AG.

“There is still a lot of WMC stock out there, but BHP has effectively taken control,” said Daiwa analyst Mark Pervan. The Company said it held 55.45% of WMC shares with less than six hours before the offer wouldn’ve expired. According to Reuters,

BHP Billiton’s offer is free from conditions and it must win 90 percent of the stock before it can make a compulsory acquisition of WMC under Australian takeover law. Otherwise it faces the prospect of keeping WMC as a listed subsidiary company.

With WMC, BHP Billiton moves up a notch to become the world’s third biggest nickel producer behind Russia’s Norilsk and solidifies its number two ranking in copper behind Chile’s Codelco.

“It was always going to be close, but there was a wide expectation that BHP would get WMC in the end,” said Global Mining Research analyst Tony Robson.

The company said that it would cancel the offer if it failed to win half of WMC shares by the deadline. WMC’s chairman urged shareholders to accept the offer, calling it “as good as it is going to get.”

BHP Billiton’s offer is now scheduled to close at 7:30pm (Melbourne time) on Friday, Jun. 17, 2005.

Chris is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.