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Anglo American Plc is selling another 6% of its platinum business in a move aimed at increasing the South African unit’s free float ahead of a full exit.
Anglo on Tuesday said it launched an accelerated book build offering for about 16 million shares in Anglo American Platinum Ltd. after selling about 14 million shares in September.
The latest stake sale could raise around $535 million in gross proceeds for Anglo, according to terms seen by Bloomberg. There was enough investor demand to cover the offering shortly after it launched, the terms showed.
Anglo announced plans to exit its controlling stake in Johannesburg-listed Amplats in May as part of a wider restructuring plan that was unveiled in response to an unsolicited $49 billion takeover proposal by BHP Group. Anglo rebuffed the approach, partly because it deemed proposals to exit Amplats and Kumba Iron Ore Ltd. before a takeover could proceed as too complicated.
The move is the latest step in Anglo’s plan to radically restructure its business. On Monday, it announced it has agreed to sell its coal business in a deal that could be worth as much as $3.78 billion, while the company is also planning to exit nickel mining and sell or spin off its De Beers diamond unit.
Anglo said Tuesday that that it doesn’t intend to sell down its Amplats stake further before the planned demerger next year, with work ongoing for the platinum business to have a secondary listing in London.
The sale will cut the number of Amplats shares to be distributed among Anglo shareholders and thus reduce so-called flowback — referring to investors offloading shares obtained through a merger or spinoff, for example, because their mandates don’t allow them to hold a stock.