It’s no longer feasible to say the words Anglo American without adding the name of Anil Agarwal. The Indian tycoon owns a voting stake of just over 20 per cent in the FTSE 100 mining group through his family-owned investment vehicle Volcan, though there are also links with Vedanta, his natural resources group.
Despite regular denials, there has been persistent speculation that Mr Agarwal is lining up a bid, most likely for Anglo American’s South African assets. So what does an investor do: consider buying in as a speculative play or stay well away from what looks like a corporate governance nest of thistles?
Anglo American was founded as a goldminer in Johannesburg in 1917 by Sir Ernest Oppenheimer. Less than a decade later it