Anglo American Intends Returning $1bn To Shareholders

The purpose of the programme is to reduce the issued share capital of Anglo American, the company said in a statement. The programme will be executed in two tranches of up to $500 million each.

Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani said: “We have a disciplined and value-focused approach to capital allocation that is designed to fund the sustainability of our existing business and our base cash dividend for shareholders. With a strong balance sheet in place, we then consider the appropriate balance of options for any discretionary capital, in terms of growth investments and additional returns.”

Stephen Pearce, finance director, added: “We have deleveraged our balance sheet extensively in recent years and are confident in our funding of our portfolio of highly attractive near and medium term growth opportunities. Given the current levels of cash generated in the business, along with the further value potential we see in Anglo American, we think it appropriate to prioritise returning excess cash to shareholders through a share buyback programme. This additional return of up to $1 billion recognises the resilience of our position and builds upon the $3.4 billion of cash that we will have returned to shareholders since reinstating the dividend in mid-2017.”