Investors call BHP Billiton board to account

The stock did manage to edge 7c higher to close at $9.99. But the gain was attributed to the overnight spike in copper prices rather than any endorsement of the board's weekend decision to dump Mr Gilbertson, who is holidaying in the US.

The fallout from Mr Gilbertson's departure a $2.1 billion hit to the company's market value remains uncomfortably high for the Don Argus-led board. The damage is despite support from local analysts of the dual-listed company for Mr Gilbertson's replacement as CEO, 44-year-old chief development officer Chip Goodyear.

They also took comfort from the group's pledge to stick to its existing structure and strategy.

But questioning by local and overseas institutions about the real reasons for Mr Gilbertson's departure, and fears that it could trigger the departure of some key former Billiton managers left behind in the merged group, meant that buying support was subdued.

BHP Billiton cited irreconcilable differences for Mr Gilbertson's departure. It said those differences were related to ``style and approach" between the board and Mr Gilbertson.

An inside view of Saturday's extraordinary board meeting at which Mr Gilbertson was dumped has been provided by BHP Billiton's South African-based director and Billiton plc director since 1997, David Brink.

He told the South African Internet mining website Mineweb that the board meeting was long but cordial. ``Suggestions that this is an Australian coup are off the mark," Mr Brink said.

``What happened was a disagreement between the CEO and the board of directors," he said, adding that Mr Gilbertson was ``very much his own man".

There were again calls yesterday for chairman Mr Argus to provide a fuller explanation for the departure most notably from institutional shareholders who were sold the story in the merger that Mr Gilbertson's deal-making capabilities would make a difference.

The calls come as speculation continued that Mr Gilbertson's departure was related to him getting the knock-back from the board on two big-ticket corporate acquisitions, one in local oil and one involving overseas alumina/aluminium.

The two commodities are ones in which Mr Gilbertson was planning to take BHP Billiton to another level, leaving behind the likes of Rio Tinto and Anglo American, its competitors for the global investor dollar.

Meanwhile, the company defended the lack of disclosure over Mr Gilbertson's severance package. A company spokesman said Mr Gilbertson's remuneration package was detailed in the group's annual report and that any final payment to him was still to be determined.