Chinese tycoon Larry Yung, among, China's richest men, and chairman of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CITIC Pacific, has bought a third of South Africa's Oppenheimer family's shareholding in the mining giant Anglo American.

UK's Anglo American is the world's third largest mining company with a 45-per cent stake in its South African affiliate De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, better know the world over simply as De Beers.

The sale of the Oppenheimer family's 1.13-per cent stake has been estimated at $806 million (approximately Rs3,659 crore). The news of the stake sale pushed down the UK-based company's share prices by 2.5 per cent.

It is being speculated that the Oppenheimer family's decision to sell a third of its stake in Anglo American could be a prelude to a takeover of the world's third-largest mining company.