COMPANY COMMENT
COMPANY COMMENT: Recovery changes spin on Anglo’s assets sale
The discussion Anglo is having with potential buyers now is a very different one it may have held last year and early this year
The company’s decision to sell coal, iron ore, nickel and manganese assets was taken when the prices for those commodities was weak and the outlook uncertain. The prices have since pulled back and a number of analysts have said the early months of this year appear to have marked the bottom of the cycle. It is easy to be clever in retrospect, but as a mining CEO, one needs to have the qualities of a red-hot clairvoyant. Imagine if Anglo CEO Mark Cutifani and his team managed quick sales of iron ore and other commodities at the end of last year, they would be derided by the market now for selling at the bottom of the cycle, which is every bit as bad as buying assets at the top of the price cycle. Publicly, and most recently quoted by the UK’s The Telegraph at the weekend, Cutifani says the sales go on and Anglo wants to realise "value" for the quality assets it will sell. The discussion Anglo is having with potential buyers now is a very different one it may have held last year and ea...
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