[miningmx.com] — THE Oppenheimer family has sold 7.7% of its holding in Anglo American for about £64m, but said it did not plan to sell any more.
“We have no intention of selling further shares,” James Teeger, group managing director of E. Oppenheimer & Son, the family’s investment vehicle, told Reuters on Tuesday.
The Oppenheimer family, which founded the diversified miner almost 90 years ago, sold 2.1 million shares, leaving it with 25.2 million shares, which makes up just under 2% of Anglo.
The sale at an average price of about 3,044 pence, made known through a statement to the stock exchange, was for “portfolio rebalancing purposes”, Teeger added.
In November 2006, the Oppenheimers sold a third of its holding in Anglo to Chinese billionaire Larry Yung, also to diversify its assets.
At the time, it said it planned to invest in areas that were traditionally countercyclical to the mining industry.
The Oppenheimers also own 40% of De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond group, of which Anglo owns 45%.
Nicky Oppenheimer is chairpreson of De Beers and a board member of Anglo.
The Oppenheimer family ranked 154th on this year’s Forbes list of billionaires, with an estimated fortune of $5bn.
The Oppenheimers have been heavily involved in South Africa’s business life since grandfather Ernest won control of a diamond operation formed by magnate Cecil Rhodes.
