Four months after shareholders expressed fury over UK insurance group Prudential’s doomed $36bn plan to buy its Asian counterpart AIA, investors are angry again at BHP Billiton’s failure to complete a similar sized acquisition.

They are angry because the mining group has racked up $350m in fees despite its failure to acquire fertilizer producer PotashCorp of Canada for $38.6bn, following two other failed deals that take the total bill to $900m including abortive financing costs and advisory fees.