Anglo's heart not in SA, says Agarwal
Global miner's largest investor says company is too gloomy about the country's future
With President Cyril Ramaphosa in attendance, Anglo American's largest shareholder accused the mining giant of being unduly pessimistic about SA. "Anglo, and I think I can be very open with you, has no heart to develop SA," said Anil Agarwal, who has a 21% stake in the global miner that was founded in Johannesburg 102 years ago. Agarwal is the chair and also largest shareholder of resources group Vedanta. He was speaking after he and Ramaphosa opened the Gamsberg mine, near Aggeneys in the Northern Cape this week - an asset Vedanta bought from Anglo eight years ago. This is the latest barb from the Indian billionaire who amassed his Anglo stake in the past two years, but is not on the company's board. His public criticism of the group has often left investors puzzled as to his intentions. "This asset, they literally threw away," he said, referring to Gamsberg, which had for long been one of the world's richest undeveloped zinc assets. Anglo maintains that it is investing heavily in ...
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