LONDON (Standard&Poor's) --Jan. 17, 2008--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it affirmed its 'A/A-1' long and short-term corporate credit ratings on global, diversified mining group Anglo American PLC (Anglo) after the group announced plans to make a $5.5 billion acquisition of iron ore assets in Brazil. The outlook is stable. This affirmation reflects our view that assuming the acquisition goes ahead as planned, this will support Anglo's business risk profile over time, as it seeks to expand its iron ore capacity to about 150 million tons from about 30 million tons by 2017. There will, however, only be limited incremental iron ore capacity in the first few years post-acquisition, as substantial subsequent attributable capital expenditures will be
