Anil Agarwal Set to Become Anglo American’s Biggest Shareholder

By Little India Desk | September 22, 2017

Indian mining billionaire Anil Agarwal’s family trust Volcan Investments plans to increase his stake in Anglo American. The move will make Volcan the biggest shareholder in the London-listed company.

Volcan said it will obtain shares worth between £1.25 billion and £1.5 billion. This is in addition to the £2 billion it spent in March this year on acquiring a 12.43 per cent holding.

The additional acquisition of around 9 per cent shares will take the stake up to over 20 percent over the next 10 days, a banking source who declined to be named told Reuters.

“We are encouraged by the performance of Anglo American since our original investment earlier this year. The company has made good progress in its operational and financial performance and remains an attractive investment for our family trust,” Volcan said in a statement. In his previous statements, Agarwal had denied intentions of taking over Anglo American.

The announcement left analysists and industry watchers guessing over his larger plans. “That’s a pretty expensive personal investment,” Paul Gait, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. in London, told BloombergQuint. “It feels to me like he is positioning for, post-ANC elections, post-South African parliamentary elections, a seat at the table for some kind of restructuring.”

Some feel Agarwal’s plans move beyond South Africa, and that he is eyeing a grander presence in India, especially to increase the role played by the country in the global diamond industry, the publication reported. Anglo American, which celebrates the 100th year anniversary of its founding in South Africa this year, also owns De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer. It produces more than 30 million carats of diamonds per year, making up 35 per cent of the global rough diamond production. About 90 per cent of the world’s diamonds come to India at some stage during the cutting and polishing process.

Agarwal, 61, is the chairman of the Vedanta group, which has mining projects all over the world though some of its most valuable assets are in India. The company is one of the world’s largest producers of copper, zinc, silver, aluminum, oil & gas and iron ore.

The Patna-born London-based tycoon has been talked about for his company’s alleged unscrupulous ways of working, as ways as the philanthropic activities undertaken by it. Agarwal announced last month that he would donate 75 per cent of his wealth of $3.5 billion (about Rs 21,000 crore) to charity, saying he was inspired by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. With his Rs 16,200-crore donation pledge, Agarwal was reported to be heading to become the biggest donor to society from corporate India.