Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal to buy stake in Anglo American
The mining billionaire plans to buy as much as £2bn of Anglo American shares in the market after a merger proposal failed in 2016
London — Anil Agarwal, an Indian mining billionaire, plans to buy as much as £2bn of Anglo American shares in the market after a merger proposal failed in 2016. Anglo’s share price jumped 9% to R208 on the JSE on Thursday morning on news of Agarwal’s investment. The shares rose 10% to 1,316.5 pence as of 8.06am in London. Anglo was the best-performing stock on London’s FTSE 100 index last year, gaining 287% amid recovering commodities prices and a cost-cutting programme. The full stake would equate to about 13% of Anglo’s stock, making Agarwal the second-largest shareholder after the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). It will give him a strong voice in the company’s strategy as the blue-chip mining company cements its recovery from a slump in commodity prices. While Agarwal said the purchase was a family investment and he would not make a takeover bid, the brash Indian tycoon offered to merge part his mining empire with Anglo American in 2016, only to be rebuffed. The London-based...
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