Shedding its coal business

Anglo American has announced the much-anticipated unbundling of its collieries.

-  David McKay

Anglo American CEO, Mark Cutifani, might have had the controversial coal deal between Seriti Resources and South32 in mind when he told finweek in an interview earlier this month that the firm’s proposed South African coal demerger was just simpler.

Anglo unveiled Thungela Resources on 9 April. Thungela is a holding company, which will house the SA assets currently in its business unit, Anglo Coal. That is if shareholders approve a 10:1 unbundling of the thermal coal mines, which last year produced about 16m tonnes, most of it for the export market.

Asked why the company had not opted for a “trade sale”, Cutifani said it was important to his shareholders what the entity “looked like after the transaction”.