Global resources group Anglo American has assembled a team of advisers to sell or unbundle paper and packaging group Mondi as well as to sell its 51% stake in gold miner AngloGold Ashanti, London’s Sunday Times reported at the weekend.
Anglo has appointed investment bank UBS to either sell or unbundle Mondi into a separate company.
Investors were pressing for Mondi to be listed in London, where it would slip into the FTSE 100, the paper said.
Talks were under way with the South African government about how the proceeds from a sale or demerger could be moved out of the country without incurring huge tax penalties, the report added.
Separately, Goldman Sachs is acting for Anglo to dispose of its 51% stake in AngloGold Ashanti.
”Because of its size the favoured route is to place the holding in three tranches. Analysts believe that with the renewed institutional appetite for gold, there should be sufficient interest in acquiring these shares,” the paper said.
Citigroup has also been appointed to sell Anglo’s 79% holding in Highveld Steel and Vanadium, a company with a market value of R17,5-billion.
India’s Tata Steel and Mittal Steel South Africa have both expressed interest in Anglo’s stake in Highveld Steel and Vanadium.
”As yet no bank has been appointed to sell Tarmac, the British aggregates business owned by Anglo American. However, investors are expected to press for this after the first disposals have been made,” the paper said.
It is thought London-based fund managers believe Anglo should grant them new shares in Mondi instead of raising cash through a sale.
”They believe the company is already generating huge returns from its mining assets and is not in need of additional capital. But some continental and American investors who have already bought into other packaging companies are lobbying for a sale,” the report said.
By selling its AngloGold Ashanti holding, Anglo could be calling the top of the current gold bubble, the report said.
Earlier on Monday, gold climbed to $558,70 a troy ounce, its highest level since January 1981.
Potential buyers of Anglo’s 51% stake in AngloGold Ashanti include United States group Newmont Mining and Barrick Gold of Canada, which is buying most of Placer Dome for $10,4-billion to create the world’s biggest gold producer, the paper said. – I-Net Bridge