AngloGold Ashanti sells mine

Johannesburg - AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] will sell its entire interest in AngloGold Ashanti Namibia (AGAN) to a wholly-owned subsidiary of QKR Corporation, the company said on Monday.

AGAN owns the Navachab open-pit gold mine near Karibib, western Namibia.

"The agreement provides for an upfront consideration based on an enterprise value of US110M (about R1.2bn) which will be adjusted to take into account AGAN's net debt and working capital position on the closing date of the transaction (closing date).

"The upfront consideration is payable in cash on the closing date. In addition, AngloGold Ashanti will receive deferred consideration in the form of a net smelter return (NSR)," the company said in a statement.

The NSR would be paid quarterly for seven years. The transaction is subject to fulfilment of a number of conditions precedent, including Namibian and South African regulatory and third party approvals.

These were expected to be obtained over the next few months, AngloGold said.

"We are executing on our strategy to focus our efforts on assets of scale that drive value in the business," AngloGold Ashanti executive vice president of strategy and business development Charles Carter said.

"We're pleased to have reached agreement to sell Navachab for fair value in the midst of a difficult market. We believe that QKR is the right group to take Navachab forward."

QKR president Lloyd Pengilly said Navachab was the company's first acquisition. He said QKR believed Navachab had significant potential.

AngloGold Ashanti would continue to operate Navachab until the closing of the transaction.