Anglo American to sell Tarmac Europe for $400 million

As part of its forced restructuring after a failed acquisition attempt late last year by rival Swiss miner Xstrata, diversified miner Anglo American has agreed to sell the  European assets of its subsidiary Tarmac business for $400-million.

Anglo American  chief executive Cynthia Carroll had said when she had taken over the reins of the fledgling mining company in 2007 that Tarmac was a 'non-core' asset, but she still has yet to dispose of all the assets of Tarmac.

London-based Anglo American with diverse mining assets in its portfolio including precious platinum group metals, diamonds, copper, nickel, zinc, phosphates and bulk commodities iron ore, manganese and coal, has agreed to sell its Tarmac's construction businesses in France, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic to Eurovia, a subsidiary of the Vinci Group.

In a separate transaction, Anglo American has agreed to the sale of Tarmac's Polish concrete products business to Innova/4 LP, a Central European private equity fund advised by Innova Capital.

Combined proceeds are expected to be approximately $400 million. Both transactions are subject to regulatory clearance, said the miner in a statement.

Tarmac group had net operating assets of $3.56 billion as of end of June 2009, and its operating profit was $27 million in the six months to end-July 2009, down $136 million compared with a year earlier.