Anglo American's CEO, Tony Trahar, will be called as one of the company's witnesses in the Competition Tribunal hearing into Anglo's acquisition of a 20,1% stake in Kumba Resources.
The four-day hearing, which is scheduled to end on Thursday, has become key to Anglo's plans to add SA iron ore to its product portfolio after the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) fought to intervene, contesting Anglo's move to build up a stake in Kumba.
The fact that the company intends to put Trahar forward as one of its five witnesses is an indication of how important the Kumba acquisition is to it.
For some time there was speculation that Anglo was keen to grow its stake in Kumba, and based on comments from Anglo's first witness to the tribunal yesterday, it appeared it was looking to increase its stake in Kumba to a controlling one. Initially, the IDC had argued it should be allowed to intervene. It was concerned that Anglo, through buying stakes in both Kumba and Anglovaal Mining, (Avmin) which through its stake in Assmang was a player in SA's iron ore industry might have a dominant position when it came to consolidation of SA's iron ore reserves.
Earlier this month, though, Anglo sold the Avmin stake.
The IDC said that it was now keen to get more information on Anglo's strategy regarding SA's iron ore assets through the hearing. The Competition Tribunal usually hands down its decision about two weeks after hearings but due to the complexity of this case and the fact it is being contested, a final decision could take longer.
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