Falling into the category of strange, AngloGold Ashanti announced a mere five days after they were restructuring that they were not restructuring. A massive push back from their shareholders no doubt have led them to pull back. Or is it a little more complicated than that? I mean, why put out the announcement and then engage with your shareholders thereafter? That hardly builds confidence in the relationship that exists between the owners of the business, the shareholders and the custodians of their funds, the management team, or is it only me that thinks that way?
I still think that if you must own a gold business that this is the best one, the management team here is the best quality and although it is arguable that some local businesses possess better assets, in time the quality of diversity and different asset bases will shine through. I am not sure that the exercise was meant for the purposes of kite flying in making all "stake holders", which includes government and labour, aware that the company has options. To be completely fair, in the original release AngloGold Ashanti said all of this may or may not happen, perhaps not so strange after all and a solid engagement with shareholders could have revealed to the management that they prefer the current approach. As you were, the next announcement no doubt around raising money, that is going to be tricky at the current lower gold prices, but necessary.