RESOURCES
Hunter becomes hunted as Agarwal launches audacious raid on Anglo
Since a large portion of company’s income is derived in SA, the billionaire is betting on local mining scene improving
If someone buys 12% of a company and expresses full confidence in the board, its strategy and its valuation, it is a pretty safe bet he or she actually thinks its board is lacking, its strategy is muddled and its valuation is too low. In the case of Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, he may well have a point. Agarwal launched an audacious raid on SA’s storied company on Thursday, saying he intended to buy just over $2bn worth of the company, which would amount to about 12% of the market capitalisation. It is a rich irony because this is exactly the kind of thing Anglo used to do in the heyday of its dominance over SA’s mining sector during the dark days of apartheid. One such example was the dawn raid on Gold Fields (not the same as today’s JSE-listed company) in February 1980, when Anglo, which was very much an Oppenheimer company in its genetic make-up, and De Beers snapped up just under 30% of the company, prompting one Gold Fields executive to quip there was a "predator in our pan...
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