On Oct. 16, 2002, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its single-'A'-minus long-term and 'A-2' short-term corporate credit ratings to U.K.-based mining group Anglo American PLC (Anglo). The outlook is stable. The ratings reflect Anglo's above-average business risk profile as a global mining and natural resource group and its conservative financial profile. As the world's second-largest mining group--behind BHP-Billiton PLC (A/Positive/A-1)--Anglo benefits from very strong market positions in a large number of capital-intensive and cyclical extractive industries including platinum, diamonds, gold, and coal. The group has reduced its dependency on South Africa in recent years by pursuing an expansion strategy in Europe, Australia, and South America. In 2001, the proportion of EBITDA generated from South Africa was still high, at
