The company that was offloaded by Anglo American and is now worth R300 billion

Since demerging from Anglo American, Valterra Platinum has become an impressive mining giant in its own right, now valued at R298 billion on the JSE.

Valterra has also become an attractive investment, with the company set to benefit from its diversified Platinum Group Metal (PGM) portfolio in the coming years.

Formerly known as Anglo American Platinum, Valterra is the world’s largest PGM producer, accounting for 38% of the global annual primary platinum supply.

Valterra traces its roots back to 1995, when Johannesburg Consolidated Investments unbundled, and its platinum interests became Anglo American Platinum, or ‘Amplats’.

From day one, Anglo American was the company’s majority shareholder, with the unbundling making Amplats a subsidiary.

Under Anglo American’s control, Amplats expanded rapidly, capitalising on South Africa’s huge PGM reserves and its strong assets in the country.

One of Amplats’ biggest assets is its mining operations in South Africa’s Bushveld Igneous Complex, which hosts a range of commodities, including chromium, vanadium, and PGMs.

Over the years, Anglo American built the company into a fully integrated “mine-to-market” powerhouse.

This meant that Amplats not only extracted raw ore, but also operated extensive downstream smelting and refining networks in South Africa.

At that point, Amplats’ business centred on Tier-1 assets such as its Mogalakwena open-pit mine, which is the lowest-cost and most profitable PGM mine in the world.

Trouble came in 2012, when the Marikana massacre at Lonmin, which led to the death of 34 miners, saw mine workers around the country going on strike.

Amplats was caught in the crosshairs and made the controversial decision to make 12,967 striking South African miners redundant.

Another strike came in 2014, which lasted for five months, crippling mining companies’ production and costing billions.

Again, Amplats was not spared, and the financial impact of the strike forced the company to sell off several of its older, high-cost assets, like underground mines in South Africa.

However, this also proved to be a blessing in disguise for Amplats, as it forced the company to pivot towards automated and mechanised open-pit mining, like its Mogalakwena mine.

Leaving Anglo American

One of the biggest shifts in Amplats’ history came in 2025, when its owner, Anglo American, undertook a major corporate restructuring.

This came after Anglo American had become a takeover target for global mining giant BHP Billiton, which forced the miner to defend itself by strengthening and streamlining its business.

One of the major restructuring initiatives involved spinning off its PGM unit entirely, which meant selling out of its stake in Amplats.

In May 2025, Anglo American and Amplats ended their 30-year history together. Amplats was separately listed on the JSE, now under the name ‘Valterra Platinum’.

Valterra’s first year as a standalone entity was difficult, with the company’s interim profit taking a significant beating due to a drop in sales and costs related to the spinoff.

Valterra had to pay R1.4 billion in once-off demerger costs when it split from Anglo American, which coincided with a 25% drop in PGM sales volumes.

These factors led to an 81% drop in Valterra’s headline earnings for the first half of its 2025 financial year to R1.24 billion.

However, the company rallied, and Valterra reported a 98% increase in headline earnings for the full 2025 financial year. This was aided by a commodity boom over the course of 2025, which benefitted PGM prices immensely.

Valterra’s share price followed suit, with the company’s share price doubling over the course of 2025, reaching a then-all-time high of R1,485 in December.

This rally continued into 2026, with Valterra’s share price reaching a peak of R1,864 at the end of February – a day before the outbreak of the Iran war.

The Middle East conflict has not been kind to miners worldwide, and Valterra has been no exception. As investors rushed toward safe-haven assets like the US dollar, precious metals and PGM miners have felt the pinch.

Valterra’s share price is now down 23.61% in the year to date, a significant decline from its peak at the start of the year.

Analyst opinion

PSG Wealth equity analyst Marnus Piekaar said the firm believes Valterra Platinum deserves a ‘buy’ recommendation, despite current geopolitical pressure on some commodity prices.

Piekaar explained that Valterra is well-positioned to benefit from its diverse PGM production mix, which spans platinum, palladium, and rhodium.

He said the miner’s operations on the Bushveld Complex, its large-scale resource base, and established infrastructure will underpin its resilience.

These factors will also provide leverage as PGM prices are expected to improve over the medium-term, setting Valterra up well to benefit.

Piekaar noted that structural supply constraints across the local PGM industry continue to tighten the global platinum market.

These constraints include mine closures, the limited development of new projects, and underinvestment in refineries.

However, at the same time, he explained that platinum demand remains supported by auto catalyst requirements, jewellery demand, industrial applications, and the emerging hydrogen economy.

This supports a firmer long-term pricing outlook for these commodities and, consequently, the mining firms that produce them.

When it comes to Valterra in particular, Piekaar said the company’s management continues to focus on driving operational efficiencies, stabilising production, and maintaining capital allocation discipline.

This, along with Valterra’s established operations and processing network, positions the firm well to benefit from higher prices and improved margins.

On a valuation side, Piekaar said Valterra is currently trading below PSG Wealth’s intrinsic value estimate. This suggests that the market may be overly discounting the near-term PGM price correction.

“We believe the current valuation does not fully reflect the company’s operational quality, leverage to improving platinum fundamentals, and medium-term cash flow recovery potential,” he said.