Former BHP CEO says strategic vision led to Temasek split

HONG KONG, Sept 24 - Former BHP Billiton CEO Charles "Chip" Goodyear briefly addressed his departure from Temasek on Thursday and stood up for the importance of long-term shareholder gains.

"Differences of strategic vision is the best way to put it," Goodyear said in his first public comment since July when he walked out of a job to become the chief executive of Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings. He said the Temasek press release at the time had it right.

Goodyear, speaking at the CLSA conference here, spent most of his presentation standing up for the importance of long-term shareholder value. He said in the last 10-½ years at BHP, annualised returns were a little more than 20 percent, and compared long-term gains against short-term gains of private equity firms and hedge funds.

"I'd put that track record up against anyone, certainly in the private equity space and otherwise," he said.