By Christian Moess Laursen
Anglo American signed a deal to sell its remaining steelmaking coal assets to U.S. coal miner Peabody Energy for up to $3.775 billion, as the London-listed mining company progresses its plan to trim operations.
The global, diversified miner is under pressure to implement the large-scale restructuring it outlined in May to fend off a nearly $50 billion takeover bid from rival BHP.
The sale of its remaining coal business to Missouri-based Peabody Energy is an important step toward delivering the strategy, Chief Executive Duncan Wanblad said Monday.
Anglo American said the deal with Peabody takes the total sales value of its coal business to up to $4.9 billion, following the $1.1-billion sale of its stakes in the two mines in Australia earlier this month.
Analysts at Berenberg recently valued the coal division at $2.7 billion.
The agreement comprises an upfront cash consideration of $2.05 billion, a deferred cash consideration of $725 million, as well as up to $550 million in a price-linked earnout and a contingent cash consideration of $450 million linked to the reopening of the Grosvenor mine.
Operations have been suspended at the Grosvenor mine since late June following a fire incident. Anglo said last month that there seemed to be limited damage in the underground area of the mine.
Under the restructuring, launched in May, Anglo will become a solely copper, iron-ore and crop nutrients business, as it carves out its coal, diamond, nickel and platinum segments.
"All the transactions to deliver our portfolio transformation are well in train," Wanblad said. The demerger of its platinum business, Anglo American Platinum, is still expected to happen toward the middle of next year. The unit is the world's largest producer of platinum-group metals.
Anglo added that it is seeing strong interest in its nickel business, with the sale process well progressed.
Write to Christian Moess Laursen at christian.moess@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 25, 2024 03:04 ET (08:04 GMT)
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