When a company quadruples in value over nine months, it is unusual for the biggest investors to say management has the wrong strategy. But that is exactly what is happening with Anglo American, the mining company that is the UK’s best-performing blue-chip stock in 2016. In February, Anglo was reeling from a broad slump in commodities that sent its shares to an all-time low and compounded a mountain of debt. To staunch the bleeding, the company proposed selling more than half its assets including coal and iron ore mines that had plunged in value. Almost as soon as the plan was announced, prices began recovering, so much so that investors, including top shareholder the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), urged executives to reconsider. "The desperation levels are not there anymore," said Hanré Rossouw, a fund manager at Investec Asset Management, whose investments include Anglo shares. "The strategy was predicated by balance sheet distress and the way to solve it was to sell assets. ...
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