Anglo American completes sale of Australian coal mine

Mining giant Anglo American has completed the sale of the Drayton thermal coal mine and Drayton South project in New South Wales, Australia, to Malabar Coal Limited, with the terms of the transaction remaining confidential.

Anglo, which originally announced the sale and purchase agreement for the mine in May 2017, ceased activities at Drayton in 2016.

The FTSE 100 constituent sold its entire 88.17% interest in Drayton to local firm Malabar Coal.

Mark Cutifani, chief executive of Anglo American, said, "The sale of Drayton marks further progress in the transformation of our globally diversified portfolio, focused around our largest and most competitive assets."

Analysts at Jefferies last month suggested Anglo was a candidate for corporate restructuring, such as a breakup or as an acquisition target, now that Cutifani has a new chairman above him and a potential activist investor in Vedanta’s Anil Agarwal, who owns 20% of Anglo shares.

As of 0820 GMT, shares had gained 1.25% to 1,810.80p.