Anglo American (AAL)/Vedanta Resourcs (VED) - It's That Man Again!

ITMA1 is to invest another £1.25-1.5bn in Anglo shares. This will be funded by a second mandatory exchangeable bond, which is set to close in early October. Through the first one, he currently owns a 12.43% voting stake and assuming current prices, he could go to nearly 21.5%.

His current percentage holding is after some votes have been waived, so it is not clear what his actual shareholding is at the moment and whether he can get those votes back in certain circumstances. That said, he has reiterated that he has no current intention to bid for Anglo’s.

The Independent Directors of Vedanta Resources have consented to this plan pursuant to a relationship agreement and Vedanta Resources confirmed that ITMA1 was acting independently of them. It is interesting that this relationship wasn’t mentioned last time, so unless it was in the fine print of the first bond, it may well be a new agreement.

Anglo and its other important South African shareholder has yet to comment, but as ITMA1’s stake approaches 20% they may start to twitch.