[miningmx.com] – ANGLOGOLD Ashanti prospered where other South African corporates failed yesterday after the R103bn gold producer retained its investment grade rating, an outcome CEO, Mark Cutifani, said was related to the geographic spread of its asset base.
Standard & Poor’s retained AngloGold’s BBB- rating, with a negative outlook, despite downgrading South Africa’s sovereign rating which has had a knock-on effect throughout the country’s capital markets.
Last week, Moody’s Investors Service, another ratings agency, downgraded Gold Fields’ debt to junk status on the basis that the company’s unbundling of its South African assets would lead to an overall weaker credit profile, at least in the short term.
“We’ve taken strong, decisive action to maintain our investment grade rating and preserve our financial stability and flexibility,’ Cutifani said.
“And at the same time our strategy to improve the quality and diversity of our portfolio remains firmly on track,’ he added.
“Maintaining a strong and stable financial foundation has always been key to ensuring we have cost-effective access to capital over the long-term,’ said AngloGold Ashanti’s CFO, Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan.
“Despite the raft of macro headwinds we’ve faced during the recent months, we’ve shown that we have the strategy, portfolio and the team to make good on our commitments,’ he said.
AngloGold has assets in South and North America, Australia, and in Africa, as well as mines in South Africa. It also has a number of new projects including Tropicana in Australia and Kibali in the Democratic Republic of Congo which are scheduled to begin production within the next year.
