It plans to sell its remaining 19.9% stake in Valterra Platinum.
Anglo American Plc is bidding a final goodbye to platinum with the announcement that it will sell its remaining stake in Valterra Platinum, which is the old Anglo American Platinum (Amplats).
The 19.9% stake is valued at about $2.7 billion (R48 billion), and the 52 million shares up for grabs will be sold to qualifying institutional investors.
Valterra shares are up about 30% since listing as a standalone company on the London Stock Exchange in June.
Valterra’s unbundling from the Anglo American rump was completed in May this year, with Anglo retaining about a fifth of the platinum counter’s shareholding.
This stake will now be offered to institutional shareholders, according to a press statement released on Wednesday. With precious metal prices surging, Anglo has decided the time is right to offload its remaining shares in Valterra.
“Valterra Platinum has made a strong start as a standalone company, and we continue to have every confidence in its future as the world’s leading integrated value chain producer of platinum group metals [PGMs],” said Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad.
“Valterra is perfectly positioned to benefit from the increasingly attractive structural market dynamics for PGMs. This placing marks further progress in our responsible separation process and a further step in our portfolio simplification to focus on our world-class positions in copper, premium iron ore, and crop nutrients,” he added.
ALSO READ: Here’s why Amplats will still pay Anglo R1.6bn a year after unbundling
Move follows BHP bid
This is part of a restructuring of the group following BHP’s aborted $49 billion bid to acquire Anglo American in 2024.
Anglo reckoned it could do a better job than BHP in uncorking value, and since then has announced the sale of its Australian coal mines, along with plans to exit less profitable parts of the business, namely coal, nickel, and diamonds.
In November 2024, Anglo raised $530 million (R9.6 billion) from the sale of a 6.6% stake in Amplats (which was renamed Valterra Platinum in May 2025). Wednesday’s announcement that it would fully offload its remaining platinum stake will further fatten Anglo’s balance sheet.
Sasfin Wealth’s David Shapiro told Moneyweb’s Jimmy Moyaha on SAfm Market Update on Wednesday evening that Anglo may feel this is as good as any time to exit its platinum interests.
However, Shapiro argued there may be more legs to the current bull market in precious metals.
Platinum prices are up 57% since the start of the year, alongside a 30% gain in palladium and a 36% run in gold – which hit an all-time high this week at $3 576 an ounce.
“This can go on. I think there’s a little more to this market,” said Shapiro. “Gold tends to fizzle out when things get better in the economy. There are some soft job numbers coming out of the US, and current bets are that we’re going to get two rate cuts this year.”
Anglo says once it completes the sale of its stake in Valterra, the remaining shares will be locked up for 90 days. The company adds it reserves the right to close the bookbuild at any time and will announce the results of the placing in due course, including the number of shares sold and at what price.
Anglo American shares have been range-bound for much of the last year but are up 10% since the beginning of August.
ALSO READ: End of an era: AngloGold Ashanti moves primary listing to New York
De Beers deliberations
Anglo faces challenges in selling its diamond business, not least of which are subdued market conditions, reflected in De Beers’s 26% drop in rough diamond production in 2024. It is considering a number of options, including a sale of the business, a demerger, or initial public offering (IPO).
The demerger or IPO requires regulatory approvals in multiple jurisdictions, while a sale requires a buyer with deep pockets.
It has been speculated that a Gulf buyer or sovereign fund may be in the wings, but the depressed diamond market looms over the potential price it can fetch.
There are also challenges in offloading its remaining coal interests, given more stringent regulatory oversight and pressures to decarbonise, while weaker global demand for coking coal makes it harder to find buyers willing to pay a premium.
Valterra and Thungela’s share price moves
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
