BHP says will also seek LSE listing for spin-off company

SYDNEY, Oct 16 (Reuters) - BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) said on Thursday it would list a proposed spin-off company comprised of unwanted businesses on the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) as well as in Australia, responding to pressure from some investors.

BHP, the world's biggest mining company, announced in August plans to spin off operations worth roughly $16 billion, most of them acquired in its 2001 merger with South Africa's Billiton, to focus on its most profitable activities.

BHP said at the time the business would be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, with a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

This led to concern that institutional investors required to place funds in European-only entities would be forced to sell shares in the spinoff company in the absence of a London listing.

"We are pleased to offer an additional listing in London in response to the interest investors have shown in the new company," BHP Billiton Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie said.

"We continue to work towards completion of the demerger in the first half of the 2015 calendar year, subject to receipt of the necessary approvals," he said. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Richard Pullin)