BHP BILLITON PLC - Notification of major interest in shares

Notification of major interest in shares

Issued by:                         BHP Billiton Plc


Date:                              28 August 2012


To:                                London Stock Exchange
                                   Australian Securities Exchange


cc:                                JSE Limited
                                   New York Stock Exchange


For Release:                       Immediately


Contact:                           Elizabeth Hobley +44 (0) 20 7802 4054



                        BHP Billiton Plc – Notification of Major Interest in Shares




 The following notification was received on 24 August 2012, by BHP Billiton Plc from Norges
 Bank relating to major interests in shares of BHP Billiton Plc.




 Sponsor: Absa Capital (the investment banking division of Absa Bank Limited, affiliated with
 Barclays)


 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                              Registered Office: Neathouse Place
 Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia                                   London SW1V 1BH United Kingdom
 Tel +61 1300 55 4757 Fax +61 3 9609 3015                            Tel +44 20 7802 4000 Fax +44 20 7802 4111


                                 Members of the BHP Billiton group which is headquartered in Australia




                                                                                                                    
TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARESi

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer
of existing shares to which voting rights are                         BHP Billiton Plc
attached: ii                                                          GB0000566504

2 Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights                                              X

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
notification obligation: iii                    Norges Bank


4. Full name of shareholder(s)            
(if different from 3.):iv                       N/A

5. Date of the transaction and date on
which the threshold is crossed or         
reached: v                                      22nd August 2012

6. Date on which issuer notified:               24th August 2012

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or        
reached: vi, vii                                3%
                                                                                     
8. Notified details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares viii, ix

Class/type of        Situation previous          Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
shares               to the triggering
                     transaction
                                                                                                              
if possible using    Number         Number       Number        Number of voting          % of voting rights x
the ISIN CODE        of             of           of shares     rights
                     Shares         Voting                               
                                    Rights       Direct        Direct xi   Indirect xii   Direct    Indirect
                                    
GB0000566504         63,516,359    63,516,359    63,247,753    63,247,753                 2.99%


B: Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financial           Expiration   Exercise/                 Number of voting              % of voting
instrument                  date xiii    Conversion Period xiv     rights that may be            rights
                                                                   acquired if the
                                                                   instrument is    
                                                                   exercised/ converted.
                                                                                        
N/A                         N/A          N/A                       N/A                           N/A


C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments
xv, xvi

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
                                                                                                                   
Type of financial     Exercise     Expiration   Exercise/      Number of voting rights      % of voting rights xix,xx
instrument            price        date xvii    Conversion     instrument refers to                                       
                                                period xviii    
CFD                   N/A          N/A          N/A            3,000                        Nominal       Delta
                                                                                            0.0001%       0.0001%
                                                                                                  


Total (A+B+C)
Number of voting rights                                   Percentage of voting rights

63,247,753                                                2.99%




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

N/A




Proxy Voting:

10. Name of the proxy holder:                                Norges Bank

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease 
to hold:                                                     N/A

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold
voting rights:                                               N/A

13. Additional information:                  None

14. Contact name:                            Jonas Lexmark

15. Contact telephone number:                +47 2407 3134




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