BHP sells IT unit

BHP sells IT unit

MELBOURNE (Dow Jones): Broken Hill Proprietary Co. (BHP), an
Australian steel, energy and mining company, said Wednesday it
sold its information technology division to U.S.-based Computer
Sciences Corp. (CSC).

The sale includes BHP Information Technology Pty. Ltd. and
BHP's Indonesian-based information technology business.

BHP Information Technology employs around 1,700 people and has
operations in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and the U.S. It
mainly services internal customers, with about 30 percent of its
sales sourced from customers outside BHP.

CSC will make an upfront payment of A$75 million to BHP,
representing a profit after tax to BHP of A$65 million. CSC also
will provide integrated IT services for an initial term of seven
years, valued at more than A$700 million.