ANGLO American can thank the same banker – James Hartop – for many of its most important transactions over the past 25 years, including the latest proposal to merge with Canada’s Teck Resources in a deal worth approximately £40bn.
This is according to Bloomberg News which wrote about Hartop on Tuesday in the wake of the proposed merger with Teck. Now at Centerview Partners, a boutique adviser, Hartop’s relationship with Anglo dates back to the mid-Nineties when we worked for UBS.
During that time, Hartop has advised five different Anglo CEO, from Julien Ogilvie Thomson to current boss Duncan Wanblad, said the newswire.
Symbolising his importance at Anglo, Bloomberg said Hartop has his own security badge for the group’s London headquarters. Whilst rival advisers wait to be summoned, the 51-year-old enjoys unprecedented influence, it said.
The Oxford theology graduate spent six months in Johannesburg in 1998 consolidating eight gold companies into AngloGold, and famously helped bury Xstrata’s £41bn merger bid with Anglo in 2009. He also helped fend off BHP’s $49bn takeover attempt last year.
As part of the defence against BHP, and working alonside Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, Hartop devised a comprehensive turnaround strategy for Anglo that included exiting coal, diamonds and platinum businesses whilst slowing spending on a massive UK fertiliser mine.
“If you saw Anglo run a process without Hartop, you’d think they weren’t serious,” one rival banking source familiar with the situation told Bloomberg News.
Described as unassuming and straight-talking, Hartop has also advised on global mega-deals including Anheuser-Busch InBev’s $104bn SAB Miller acquisition.
With potential bidders still circling Anglo, Hartop’s defensive expertise remains invaluable to the century-old miner navigating an uncertain future, said Bloomberg News.
