Anglo American Plc waits for right time to sell rights

By Marc Castro

Sep 25, 2013 05:23 AM EDT

Mining company Anglo American Plc invested about USD16 billion in Brazil. Even after its missed targets and numerous cost overruns, the company was in no rush to sell its stake in its biggest venture. 

The company, which is based out of London, would need to wait out a few months to find prospective investors to see if Anglo would be able to deliver its USD8.8 billion iron-ore Minas-Rio project in Brazil. This was confirmed by Anglo American Plc CEO Mark Cutifani in interviews with reporters. He said that Anglo received 'expression of interests' from possible purchasers, the company did not receive any formal bids for the venture.

During a press conference of the Brazilian Mining Congress held in Belo Horizonte, Cutifani said, "When you have a track record of not hitting your targets, i think it takes time for people or for you to rebuild trust. We are not looking to rush the process, we are very happy with what we seem, we have a good project."

According to Anglo last January, it would write off USD4 billion from the value of the Minas-Rio mine and increase the project's overall budget for the sixth time. The said changes were due to licensing shortages and increasing costs since it purchased the venture back in 2008. In June, two individuals told Bloomberg News that the company had engaged the services of Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley and UBS AG to sell off 49.9% of the mine.

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