The company said the bond consists of one $US1.5 billion in senior notes with a 5.5% coupon rate, due in 2019, and $US1.75 billion in senior notes with a 6.5% coupon rate, due 2019.
Barclays Capital, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs will be the bond sale managers.
The bond sale, if it goes ahead, will be BHP’s first such issue in two years.
At the end of last year, the company’s net debt came to $US4.2 billion, representing a gearing rate of 9.5%. BHP said at the time its underlying earnings cover its interest 86.6 times.
Shares in BHP were last trading at $A31.44 on the Australian Securities Exchange, up 36c.
