London — Anglo American plc has 16 bidders to date for its niobium and phosphates business, which it put up for sale late last year. The company expects to draw up a shortlist in the next two weeks. Anglo CEO Mark Cutifani, commenting on the sale in a television interview to Bloomberg this week, said the company may sell the Brazil-based unit within the next two-to-three months. A spokesperson for Anglo confirmed Cutifani’s comments and told Green Markets the company is still open to submissions from other bidders for the unit. Anglo put the niobium and phosphates unit on the block in December as part of an accelerated and more radical restructuring to redefine the focus of the group’s asset portfolio and cut debt (GM Dec. 14, 2015). Anglo said Feb. 16 it was accelerating its asset sales to raise a targeted $3-$4 billion this year, and is planning to focus its core portfolio on diamonds (De Beers), platinum group metals, and copper. The group reported a full-year 2015 loss of $5.62 billion and an end-year net debt of $12.9 billion.
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