Bobby Godsell, CEO, AngloGold Ashanti

» What is up AngloGold Ashanti's sleeve?
» Anglo unveils far-reaching restructure

Bobby Godsell says he's relaxed about Anglo's intentions with AngloGold

In an interview on ClassicFM @ 18:35 on 27 October 2005

[miningmx.com] -- Apart from being delighted at Anglo American's intention to reduce its stake in AngloGold Ashanti, CEO Bobby Godsell said he was quite relaxed about the process because he was certain it would be done in an orderly way.

"Anglo American finds itself in the same place as central bankers. They've got a big slug of gold investment that they want less of. I'm sure they'll be orderly in the way that they reduce their level of holding," Godsell said on the Classic FM business radio show.
I'm quite relaxed
"Given that they've said they want to remain significant shareholders in the medium term, I'm sure they would act in their selling in a way that doesn't destroy the value of what they continue to hold, so I'm quite relaxed about that," he said.

Anglo American said on Wednesday it wanted to reduce its holding in AngloGold Ashanti to below 51%, but remain a significant shareholder.

"We are delighted for the simple reason that gold companies trade at a premium to our net present value. Our shareholders are optimistic about the gold price and also about the capacity of our company to grow," he said.

"They've been wanting to maintain 50% plus one of our shares. We've been wanting to grow and it sensible for us to use our shares to do that. That logical conundrum has been removed and we can simply grow whenever we create extra value for all our shareholders including Anglo American," he said.