Anglo American to Delay Tarmac Sale: Report
Mining group Anglo American has postponed plans to sell its 3 billion-pound ($5.9 billion) Tarmac road-covering business until turmoil on capital markets eases, Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported.
Anglo American announced last August it planned to sell Tarmac, saying it had received interest from trade and private equity firms.
The group said then that it hoped to complete a deal in the first half of 2008, with proceeds due to be used to fund a pipeline of new projects and acquisitions.
The Telegraph, quoting sources close to the situation, said a sale was now unlikely to go ahead until debt markets improve, adding the group hoped to resurrect the deal in 2-3 months.
"Like everyone else who is looking to sell assets above 1.5 billion pounds, Anglo is nervous about pushing forward with the process and not getting the best sale value," the paper quoted an unnamed source as saying.
Anglo American declined to comment on the report, but a spokesman for the group said it remained committed to the sale, though it was not under pressure to do a deal quickly.
"The business is performing well," the spokesman said.
In 2007, Anglo American demerged its paper and packaging business Mondi as part of a drive to improve its performance and fight speculation of a break-up bid.
