LONDON (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 16, 2002--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it 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," said Olivier Beroud, credit analyst and director at Standard&Poor's Corporate Ratings Europe. 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
