Global Trade Alert

On October 12, 2011, the Chilean state mining company Coldeco announced its willingness to buy a 49 per cent stake in Anglo American Sur, the Chilean copper unit of the British mining company Anglo American (holding a 100 per cent stake). Coldeco is entitled to do so according to a contract established in 1978 and modified in 2002.
Anglo American tried to thwart Coldeco's plans by selling a 24.5 per cent stake to Mitsubishi, the rival of Mitsui, the latter being the Japanese trading house that would have lent USD 6.75 billion to Coldeco to complete its deal.
After ten months of dispute, Coldeco and Anglo American came to an agreement on August 23, 2012. Anglo American accepted to shrink its stake in Anglo American Sur from 75.5 per cent (after having previously sold the remaining 24.5 per cent to Mitsubishi) to 50.1 per cent, but kept control. Coldeco and its Japanese partner Mitsui obtained a 29.5 per cent stake; 25.4 per cent were coming from Anglo American and the remaining 4.1 per cent were sold by Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi's stake shrunk from 24.5 to 20.4 per cent.
This measure is included in the GTA database because Anglo American was most likely forced to shrink its stake and the sales price is likely tothe detriment of foreign commercial interest.