Mark Cutifani is stamping his own signature on Anglo – but is it enough?
He’s neither Anglo, nor American. But its taken an Australian, Mark Cutifani – presumably with the assistance of a good old fashioned Kookaburra cricket bat – to to try and beat what was once the world’s premier mining company back into shape.
At the very least, the announcements made at Anglo’s investor day on Tuesday revealed the company – and the executive team driving the change – had realised the cold, hard reality of the situation they found themselves in, and are prepared to do whatever it takes to see out the most brutal of winters in commodity markets.
Well, almost everything. “I guess the point we are trying to make,” said Cutifani at the presentation, “is that in this sort of environment, nothing can be considered business as usual”.
So let’s start with the asset disposals. The meandering and confusing acquisition strategy Anglo has pursued over the last decade was the first thing Cutifani addressed in his presentation.
In order to begin correcting this, he elected to begin by disposing of the sins of the past.
The company’s assets will reduce by approximately 60% to holding just 20 post the restructuring.
The number of operating divisions will reduce by half to comprise just De Beers, Industrial Metals and Bulk Commodities. Only those assets meeting the strict criteria of being a ‘Priority 1’ asset will remain.
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