Chinese investor takes $800m stake in Anglo American

The third richest man in China has bought an $800 million (€623 million) stake in resources group Anglo American, held by the Oppenheimer dynasty this signals a landmark deal in China's aggressive acquisition of African resources.

Larry Yung's acquisition comes two weeks after London-listed Anglo appointed a new chief executive, Cynthia Carroll, the first outsider and non-South African to head the company. Her appointment led to fresh speculation that Anglo, the world's third largest mining group by market capitalisation, could be the target of a takeover.

The sale of 17 million shares by the family which founded Anglo will add to the speculation. "If the Oppenheimer's are prepared to sell, then anybody's prepared to sell," said an analyst yesterday.

Mr Yung, chairman of Citic, the Chinese state-owned industrial holding company with a turnover of $3.4 billion, bought the shares in his personal capacity.

Anglo American's share price closed up nearly 2 per cent on the Johannesburg stock exchange yesterday. The surprise sale highlighted China's appetite for resources in Africa. It followed Beijing's hosting of a summit for 48 African countries.

"This is further evidence of China's aggressive acquisition of commodity assets in Africa," said John Coulter, former head of JPMorgan in South Africa.

"China is committing huge capital to the commodities sector."

But the biggest question the deal raises is whether it marks the end of the relationship between the Oppenheimer family and the company Ernest Oppenheimer founded in 1917. The sale marks a further scaling down of the Oppenheimer family's links with Anglo American. The cross-shareholding between De Beers and Anglo American was unbundled in 1998, a year ahead of Anglo's listing in London. De Beers delisted from the Johannesburg stock exchange in 2001.

Nicky Oppenheimer, the chairman of De Beers and the grandson of founder Ernest Oppenheimer, said the family "continues to have every confidence in the future of Anglo American" and believed the new appointee Ms Carroll was "the right person to lead Anglo into the future".

The Oppenheimers remain Anglo American's largest single non-institutional shareholder with a 2 per cent stake, valued at $1.6 billion. Nicky Oppenheimer will remain on the Anglo board.

Mr Oppenheimer said the stake had been sold because E Oppenheimer & Son, the family's investment company, wished to "diversify its assets".

James Teegar, group managing director of E Oppenheimer & Son, denied the sale was the first step to the family disinvesting entirely from Anglo.

Mr Teegar said the firm's preference had been to sell to a single investor.

The scaling down of the Oppenheimer stake in Anglo American will also raise questions about the mining group's ties to South Africa.

Anglo American declined to comment.