This week's surprise move by Indian mining tycoon Anil Agarwal to acquire the second-biggest shareholding in Anglo American has again raised questions over the future of the 100-year-old group. Struggling from sluggish commodity prices and difficult operating environments in South Africa, the miner has remained the subject of takeover speculation since a failed "merger of equals" proposal by the now-defunct Xstrata Resources eight years ago. Last year, the miner had put a significant number of its assets on sale to pay down crippling debt that had piled up during the China-driven super-commodity cycle. However, markets have since changed, and the asset sale has been put on hold after a pick-up in the commodity cycle yielded cash flows to some of its bleeding businesses. Agarwal, who is buying the $2.4-billion stake of 12%, is set to become the second-biggest shareholder after the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which owns 13.5%. While the investment may not get him a seat on th...
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