US miner Peabody Energy has agreed to buy Anglo American’s remaining steelmaking coal mines in Australia for up to $3.78bn, securing a key first milestone in Anglo’s radical restructuring plan.
The transaction is the first of four big business divestments that the company promised in May after it fought off a £39bn hostile takeover attempt from BHP. The company is slimming down to concentrate on copper, iron ore and fertilisers.
Anglo chief executive Duncan Wanblad said the sale of the steelmaking coal business was “another important step” towards delivering the strategy the company set out, to create a “world class copper, premium iron ore and crop nutrients business”.