Anglo confronts messy divorce in its South African birthplace
London/Johannesburg — In 1917, Ernest Oppenheimer met South African general and soon-to-be prime minister Jan Smuts to seek his blessing for a new mining company called Anglo American. Smuts wanted one assurance, the company was there for the long haul. Anglo, along with its sister company De Beers, made Oppenheimer a billionaire and his descendants one of Africa’s richest families. The company became SA’s biggest, a conglomerate once spanning brewing, publishing and gold mining. Now a century later, Anglo is trying to cut many of the ties with the country where it all began. While South African mines were cash cows for decades, Anglo now wants to sell them next year to cut debt accumulated during the commodity boom, when it spent $14bn on Brazil’s Minas Rio. How to package the assets and which to include will be major choices for Anglo, and it faces opposition from a government pension fund that is also the biggest investor. With so much history and national identity wrapped up in ...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.