HP's CEO-elect says m is not excluded a & but not core

A woman gestures in front of the BHP Billiton sign over the half year results briefing in Sydney on the February 16, 2011 photo, file.

Credit: Reuters/Tim Wimborne

LONDON | Wed Feb 20, 2013 6: 38 am EST

London (Reuters)-incoming boss of BHP Billiton (BHP.AX), Andrew Mckenzie, said Wednesday, the largest miner in the world would not exclude transactions under his stewardship, although the strategy will remain focused on current assets.

McKenzie is the latest by a new generation of bosses, as head of the world's largest mining groups, at a time when the incoming leaders are preaching austerity, unlike big ticket acquisitions which bruised its predecessors.

"It would be wrong to say that m is completely excluded & A, but it is not central to the strategy that I've outlined," he told reporters. "This is what we have runs extremely well."

Mackenzie was the point man in Canada BHP and BHP now Chief Financial Officer, Graham Kerr, of HP's unsuccessful $ 39 billion bid for Potash Corp (pot.).

(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques)