Anglo American nears deadline for Codelco deal
ANGLO AMERICAN this week hopes to agree a deal with Chilean mining giant Codelco over the ownership of its multi-billion pound copper assets in the country.
The two firms are working to a deadline of Friday to end a month-long legal row over the Anglo American Sur assets. Several options are on the table including the discounted sale of a stake to Codelco.
State-controlled Codelco has a long-standing option to buy a 49 per cent stake in the properties, including the prized Los Bronces mine.
But after it revealed its intention to exercise the option last October, London-listed Anglo said it planned to sell a 24.5 per cent stake to Japanese firm Mitsubishi for $5.4bn (£3.4bn), in a move that seemed to scupper Codelco’s plans.
The companies have discussed reducing Mitsubishi’s stake in order to give Codelco a bigger slice of the assets, although negotiations are ongoing.
Codelco has secured a $5.8bn loan from Mitsui to pay for its share, and hopes to sew up a deal with Anglo before this expires on 1 September.