Anglo American plans to put Tarmac up for sale
Anglo American will sell its UK-based building material business Tarmac in what will be the final step of its assets restructuring programme, the mining group said.
The company launched a fresh review of assets in March following the appointment of Cynthia Carroll as chief executive, who took the helm from Tony Trahar.
"In May I announced that we were evaluating Tarmac’s fit within our portfolio of assets and, as a result of this review, we have decided that Tarmac is not core to the future development of Anglo American as a focused mining company and a sale process will be initiated," Carroll said in a statement.
The disposal of Tarmac, which could fetch at least US$6bn (UK£3bn) according to analyst estimates, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2008, Anglo American said.
The company has also completed the demerger of its paper and packing division Mondi, sold its 29 per cent stake in Highveld Steel and successfully unbundled Hulett Aluminum from Tongaat-Hulett.
Options continue to be examined to ensure an orderly exit of the group’s 41.6 per cent stake in AngloGold Ashanti, it added.
Anglo American’s underlying earnings rose 22 per cent in the first six months of the year to a record US$3.1bn on strong perfomances from its platinum, base metals, ferrous metals and industrial minerals units, it said.
Group revenue rose 5.4 per cent to US$19.8bn. Published under Cement News
