On Aug. 4, 2006, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'A' long-term and 'A-1' short-term corporate credit ratings on U.K.-based mining group Anglo American PLC (Anglo), following the company's announcement of a planned demerger of paper and packaging business Mondi, and a return of $5 billion of cash to shareholders. The outlook is stable. The affirmation reflects Standard&Poor's view that the planned Mondi demerger will be positive for Anglo's business risk profile through an improvement in group profitability, and for its financial risk profile through the assumption of a portion of Anglo's debt. This is further evidence that management is successfully executing its updated business strategy to refocus on controlled mining operations and simplify its corporate structure.
