AngloGold Ashanti to move primary listing from South Africa
AngloGold Ashanti has made a decision to move its primary listing from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) to New York and its corporate domicile to London as part of its strategy to “derisk” its business.
The company no longer has operational assets in South Africa, and it believes that South Africa’s risk profile is unattractive to investors and capital markets. The announcement came shortly after the rand experienced record lows against the dollar, further highlighting the negative sentiment towards South Africa among investors.
According to AngloGold Ashanti, a primary listing in the US will provide enhanced access to deep pools of capital and improve share trading liquidity. The company also states that a corporate domicile in the UK offers a well-established, low-risk jurisdiction that minimizes costs for shareholders.
The company sold its last operational assets in South Africa, including the Mponeng mine, in 2020 to Harmony Gold. This move has been anticipated for the past three years. AngloGold Ashanti plans to maintain secondary listings on the JSE and in Ghana, where it has a significant operational presence. The South African Reserve Bank has already given its approval, but the decision still requires a green light from at least 75% of AngloGold’s shareholders.
US primary listing
The company reassures that its Johannesburg office will continue to function, with no impact on its headcount. The transaction is estimated to cost $500 million and is expected to be completed by September. AngloGold Ashanti believes that it currently trades at a 25% discount compared to its competitors and expects that a New York listing will improve its rating with investors. The company anticipates that a US primary listing will eventually facilitate better performance and valuation comparisons with its more liquid and highly valued North American peers.
This move marks the completion of AngloGold Ashanti’s separation from South Africa, a country that has historically been deeply connected to its operations. South Africa’s appeal as a mining investment destination has declined over the past few decades, attributed in part to geological challenges such as deeper mines and lower-grade deposits. However, the main reasons for the decline are unrelated to geology.
Factors such as policy uncertainty, social and labor unrest, rising costs, and failures of state-owned entities like Eskom and Transnet have undermined South Africa’s attractiveness as a mining investment destination. The country consistently ranks low in the Fraser Institute’s annual survey of mining jurisdictions, and new mining listings on the JSE have become rare. Now, AngloGold Ashanti’s primary delisting from the JSE marks the culmination of its long-standing transition away from South Africa.
