EDITORIAL: AngloGold Ashanti exit hits hard

It was hard for South Africa, and the JSE, not to take it personally when AngloGold Ashanti CEO Alberto Calderon said the company will move its primary listing from Joburg to New York. 

Each time Calderon says this is “not about South Africa”, it sounds more like the words of a soft-hearted suitor trying to cushion the blow. Rather, he says, it’s us — we want exposure to new investors, brighter prospects and a better credit rating.

As David McKay writes on page 42, it makes sense. AngloGold sold its last South African mine in 2020 and now only has assets in Ghana, Australia, the US and Argentina. And as a South African-listed entity, its shares trade at a 25% discount to peers such as Barrick and Newmont.

Yet it is a loss. As the world’s fourth-largest gold miner, its local presence kept the country on the global map. Symbolically, it doesn’t help that this comes a week after the Fraser Institute report, which put South Africa at 57th out of 62 global jurisdictions on the investment attractiveness index.

Calderon may be right that it’s not about South Africa at all — but it sure feels like it.