Anglo American Plc has agreed to buy the Oppenheimer family’s 40% stake in De Beers, the world’s largest diamond miner, according to news reports.
A Bloomberg article noted
that the $5.1 billion cash transaction will end the family’s 80-year ownership of De Beers.
An analyst told Bloomberg that the price is on the low side, “but for the Oppenheimers there was only one buyer.” Anglo currently owns 45% of De Beers; the other 15% is owned by the Botswana government, according to the report.
Ernest Oppenheimer founded Anglo in 1917 and took control of De Beers in the 1920s. Anglo has been a leading investor in De Beers since 1926,
according to the
Financial Times.
Last December, the Oppenheimers sold about $102 million of Anglo shares, reducing their stake in the company to 1.9% from 8% in 2000.
De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer, grandson of the founder, told Bloomberg the family’s decision was unanimous. E. Oppenheimer & Son Group managing director James Teeger said the family has “no intention at this stage” of further reducing its holding, the Bloomberg article said.
Anglo said in February that Nicky Oppenheimer would leave the company, marking the first time a member of the family hasn’t sat on the board since the company was founded.
The
Financial Times
cited
analysts who commented that the Oppenheimers’ decision to sell was likely linked to succession questions. Nicky Oppenheimer, 66, stepped down form the Anglo board earlier this year; his son Jonathan “was blocked from taking his place for corporate governance reasons,” according to the
FT
report.
The
FT
noted that the Oppenheimers have other business interests. In August, E. Oppenheimer & Son formed a joint venture with Sennett Investments, a unit of Singapore’s Temasek, which will be involved in the consumer and agriculture sectors in Africa. Jonathan Oppenheimer is expected to play a leading role in the family’s future business activities, the article said. (Source: Bloomberg, Nov. 4, 2011;
Financial Times,
Nov. 4, 2011.)
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