Agarwal raises stake in Anglo

Billionaire Anil Agarwal has increased his stake in Anglo American to 19%, making him the biggest shareholder in the London-headquartered bluechip mining company.

Agarwal’s Volcan Holdings bought 102.2-million shares in Anglo, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

The Indian billionaire, who said in September that he planned to buy as much as £1.5bn of the stock, paid an average of £14.68, based on that maximum target amount.

Anglo shares traded at £14.65 on Friday.

Volcan already had 160.7-million shares, according to an April filing.

Agarwal’s stake makes him the biggest investor, ahead of the SA’s Public Investment Corporation. The billionaire has said the investment is in a personal capacity and that he has no plans to act as an activist, although he amassed his stake through a mandatory exchangeable bond issued by Volcan.

VEDANTA

The structure effectively means he rents the shares until the bond matures in 2020 and does not benefit much from a rising stock price, leading analysts to speculate that he might be planning to force a break-up or a merger. Agarwal has a controlling stake in Vedanta Resources, which in turn controls Vedanta and Hindustan Zinc.

After a failed approach to merge Hindustan Zinc with Anglo American in 2016, Agarwal said that the combination was a “good match” and that “one and one wasn’t going to be two, but 11”.