Anil Agarwal to exit from Anglo American

Two years after becoming the biggest shareholder of the firm that owns De Beers diamonds, metals tycoon Anil Agarwal announced an exit from Anglo American by divesting his near 20 per cent stake.

He had in March 2017, began buying into Anglo American through a JP Morgan mandatory convertible bond and by the time he bought a second tranche in September 2017, his stake in the mining group totalled to 19.3 per cent.

The bonds were to mature next year but Agarwal decided to exercise a call option and take profits on his investment.

Agarwal is said to have made about USD 500 million before costs from the deal.

"At the time of Volcan's (Agarwal's family trust) initial investment, I explained that this was an attractive financial investment in a great company with excellent assets and a strong board and management team," he said in a statement.

"This has turned out to be the case, with our target returns achieved even sooner than expected. The share price of Anglo American has close to doubled since Volcan invested, delivering attractive gains to all investors."
"With this, Volcan will exercise the early exchange option available to it on July 26, 2019, and consequent to this the full exchange of its two issues of mandatory exchangeable bonds secured by shares in Anglo American plc will settle on August 12, 2019."
Chief executive Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said: "We are pleased this structured investment has achieved a superior return for CIHL, as we expected when it was entered into. Our strategy continues to be to focus on our existing businesses, where we believe that there are significant opportunities to unlock their full potential."