End of an era for South African mining giant

Anglo American has received approval to demerge Anglo American Platinum and change its name to Valterra Platinum.

In a SENS report released on Thursday, 8 May, it was announced that Anglo American shareholders will receive 110 Anglo American Platinum shares for every 1,075 shares they hold. 

At the same time, Anglo American will undergo a share consolidation, although the ratio is yet to be announced. 

The company also announced that it has received approval to rename Anglo American Platinum to Valterra Platinum. In conjunction with the demerger, it will introduce an additional listing on the London Stock Exchange. 

These transactions were approved at a shareholder meeting on Wednesday, 30 April 2025, and are expected to take effect by Monday, 2 June 2025.

Based on the current timetable, the FTSE/JSE anticipates the following treatment:

• Wednesday, 28 May 2025 (from market open): Anglo American Platinum will be renamed Valterra Platinum.
• Monday, 2 June 2025 (from market open): Anglo American will trade ex-entitlement to the demerger of Valterra Platinum shares as well as the share consolidation, and will have its shares in issue and price adjusted accordingly.

Valterra Platinum will remain in its existing FTSE/JSE indices, with index shares increased in accordance with the distribution terms.

This update comes as Anglo American has been in the process of transforming and streamlining its business to remain competitive.

This transformation was driven by Australian miner BHP’s failed takeover bid of Anglo American in 2024, with Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad pledging reform to prevent future bids. 

This reform includes Anglo American selling its platinum, nickel, and steelmaking coal businesses and, potentially, its diamond giant, De Beers.

“We are making good progress with our portfolio simplification as we prepare to complete the transactions through which we will exit our platinum group metals, steelmaking coal and Nickel businesses,” Wanblad said in April this year.

Anglo American without Amplats

The reasoning behind Anglo American’s unbundling of its platinum business is that it will free up capital and management time to focus on its copper and iron ore operations.

These operations are considered higher margin and well-positioned for future growth.

Anglo American is the only major miner with big platinum and diamond businesses and is particularly exposed to South Africa, which means it lagged behind rivals who weren’t dealing with the same hurdles.

In contrast, Anglo’s copper mines in South America are widely seen as some of the highest-quality in the world and have significant potential to increase production with minimal cost. 

The company plans to increase annual copper production to more than one million tonnes by the early 2030s to benefit from the green transition.

Dubbed Anglo 2.0, the restructuring provides the company and investors with enhanced exposure to profits from copper.

If its competitors want to match this potential production increase, they would have to spend billions to build new copper mines that would take around 15 years to come online. 

Furthermore, the simplified structure after the restructuring would give Anglo shareholders greater exposure to copper and a superior commodity mix that would result in greater profitability.

2025 is undoubtedly a year of portfolio and organisational transition for Anglo American, and we will emerge as a highly differentiated, sustainably higher margin and higher return on capital employed investment proposition,” Wanblad said. 

“While the impact of tariffs on the global economy is uncertain in the short term, we have conviction in the strong longer-term outlook for our products, which have scope to become even more important to the changing global economy in the coming years.”