Anglo American attracts suitors for £800m zinc assets

Ftse 100 group Vedanta Resources and Canadian miner HudBay Minerals are believed to be in the mix for the $800m zinc assets of Anglo American which are up for sale.

Presentations to interested parties began last week as Anglo's chief executive, Cynthia Carroll, presses on with a massive restructuring. Apollo and First Reserve, the private equity giants, and at least one major Chinese miner are also thought to be interested in the assets.

Anglo sold the European businesses of construction aggregates group Tarmac for $400m last month. Eurovia, a subsidiary of French group Vinci, took several of operations, while private equity fund Innova/4 LP purchased the Polish division.

HudBay's assets are mainly in North and Central America, while Vedanta subsidiary HZL holds 79.7 per cent of the Indian zinc market.

Anglo's share price closed at 2664.5p on Friday, up 2.86 per cent on the start of the day's trading.