Chair of AngloGold Ashanti Maria Ramos says the decision to move its primary listing to New York is in line with its strategy to close the valuation gap with global peers.
The mining giant is confident it will attract a larger investor base with a New York listing to enhance the liquidity of its shares.
Ramos wrote in the group’s annual report, published on Wednesday, that the SA office will continue to be the heartbeat of its operations in Africa.
“We are grateful to the SA authorities for the care and time taken to understand the rationale for the move,” said Ramos.
“This shift places AngloGold Ashanti in the world’s largest capital market, alongside the world’s most highly valued gold producers. In time, we believe this proximity will help to close the valuation gap that has long existed with peers.”
AngloGold Ashanti last year moved its primary listing from the JSE to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), its headquarters to Denver, and its registered domicile to the UK. In 2020 the company sold the last mine in its local portfolio, Mponeng.
Ramos, who has chosen not to stand for re-election, said AngloGold remained committed to the JSE, the A2X Markets (A2X) and the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), on which it has maintained secondary listings.
The group retains a substantial corporate office in Johannesburg, though the company’s registered office and principal executive office are now located in the UK.
Ramos said the Johannesburg office “will continue to host many of our functional disciplines to service our global portfolio, as well as remaining the operational nerve centre for our African operations.
“We keep our name, AngloGold Ashanti, which speaks to our proud heritage as a company born in Africa and with strong links to the continent.”
The continent is home to the group’s operations in Guinea, Ghana, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The gold producer has previously outlined that it hoped the move would close the market valuation gap between itself and larger rivals in Northern America, such as Newmont and Barrick Gold, with closer proximity to institutional investors and analysts.
After the restructuring, the ordinary shares of AngloGold Ashanti Plc were listed on the JSE and A2X in September, maintaining the ticker symbol ANG.
In the same month, the ordinary shares and Ghanaian depositary shares of AngloGold were listed on the GSE, maintaining the ticker symbols AGA and AAD.
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