[miningmx.com] – ANGLO American Platinum (Amplats) was struggling to market its metal direct to customers, a role previously fulfilled in a contract with semi-fabricator, Johnson Matthey, said Reuters citing a banker and industry source. The article was republished in Fin24.
Amplats last year terminated a long-standing contract with Johnson Matthey preferring to market its own metal.
The strategy was put in place by Anglo American which owns about 80% of Amplats as it sought to replicate some of the producer-marketing advantages enjoyed by rival Glencore.
“The problem is that Johnson Matthey were not simply a conduit or a go-between, but they would provide some level of quasi-banking arrangements, in terms of stock holdings for example,” Ross Norman, CEO of bullion broker Sharps Pixley told Reuters.
Anglo American responded that it had had direct marketing relationships with clients for years even when the Johnson Matthey contract existed.
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