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.