(IDEX Online) – Anglo American, parent company of loss-making De Beers, is being tipped as a takeover or merger target after its valuation dropped by over $30bn in under two years.
Both the diamond and platinum markets have been in decline of late, and on Friday (8 December) Anglo announced it had drastically cut production forecasts for copper and had revised down predictions for other metals.
As a result, shares in Anglo, which is listed in London and Johannesburg, suffered their biggest one-day fall of the current financial crisis.
Analysts have identified Glencore, the Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company, as a possible suitor.
Glencore took over Xstrata, the Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company which tried and failed to merge with Anglo in 2009.
De Beers is seeking to slash $100m from its overheads in the coming year and is cutting back on capital expenditure projects.
Anglo’s valuation has dropped from over $55bn to $24bn since Duncan Wanblad took over as chief executive in April 2022.
Pic shows Anglo American’s London headquarters.
