Anglo American to sell Australian steelmaking coal mines for up to $3.9bn

(Sharecast News) - Anglo American said on Monday that it has agreed to sell its portfolio of steelmaking coal mines in Australia to private UK mining company Dhilmar for up to $3.9bn in cash. The price comprises an upfront cash consideration of $2.3bn payable at completion and a price-linked earnout of up to $1.6bn. Anglo said it will use the proceeds to reduce net debt.

Chief executive Duncan Wanblad said: "Our agreement for Dhilmar to acquire our steelmaking coal business in Australia is testament to the high quality of these assets and our people. Dhilmar's leadership brings considerable experience of operating major mining assets, including in steelmaking coal, in Southeast Asia and Canada. We will work together with the Dhilmar team and with our workforce, local communities, government, customers, and partners to ensure a successful transition.

"This agreement represents another major step in the simplification of our portfolio ahead of completing our merger with Teck. Through this transaction, we will complete our exit from steelmaking coal, delivering aggregate cash proceeds of up to $4.9 billion, given the prior completion of the sale of our interest in the Jellinbah mine for approximately $1 billion."

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said the deal not only strengthens the balance sheet, ahead of Anglo's planned merger with Canada's Teck Resources, but also keeps the miner exposed to future strength in coal prices.

"So while it's exiting what's viewed as a non-core business, it's still set to capture returns from a volatile but important market for global steel production," she said. "Anglo is spinning plates here but at different speeds. It's still rapidly pursuing copper and iron ore, which are seen as long-term structural growth drivers, but this deal will give it extra flexibility and ongoing revenues from coal, at a time when Anglo is facing highly capital-intensive projects expanding copper production."

At 1207 BST, the sahres were down 1.5% at 3,776p.

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