Anglo American’s Platinum Spinoff is Off to the Races!
Anglo American $AAL.L has now completed the demerger of Amplats, with the renamed Valterra Platinum Limited trading under ticker symbol VALT in London and on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The spinoff comes at the perfect moment just as Platinum seems to be finally coming out of its funk after years of challenging market conditions for PGM’s.
Anglo distributed 51% of Amplats, with Shareholders receiving 110 shares in Valterra Platinum for every 1,075 Anglo American shares held. Simultaneously, Anglo American underwent a share consolidation, issuing 96 new shares for every 109 previously held. Following the spinoff, Anglo retains a 19.9% stake in Valterra, having already reduced its holding through earlier disposals.
On its first day on the London Stock Exchange, Valterra shares started trading at around 29.30 pence, valuing the world's largest platinum group metals mining company at around GBP 7.77 billion (US$10.45 billion)— and Anglo American's 19.9% retained stake at around GBP 1.55 billion. The stock has increased 10% as Platinum wakes up from its slumber.
The demerger represents a fundamental strategic shift for the legendary mining conglomerate. The restructuring was initiated as a defense following $BHP’s $49 billion hostile takeover bid in 2024. The strategic review that followed was aimed at focusing Anglo American on its core Copper and Iron Ore businesses, and included not only the platinum spinoff, but also the planned divestiture of De Beers and other non-core assets.
The spinoff couldn’t come at a better time. After years of challenging market conditions for platinum group metals, as documented by the World Platinum Investment Council in their latest Q1 report, platinum’s underperformance—especially vis a vis gold— seems to have ended.
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