The embattled 117-year-old mining giant quietly axed its decarbonisation CVC team as part of a wide-ranging restructuring process.
The struggling UK mining multinational Anglo American quietly ceased its corporate venturing activities in October as part of its wide-ranging restructuring efforts. Lina Arbelaez, who led the CVC team, has left the company.
Anglo American had been investing in startups from the corporate balance sheet since 2021, in a venture called Decarbonisation Ventures. At the time of the unit’s closure it had 13 portfolio companies, mainly focused on alternative fuel and other technologies for the green transition. These include Applied Carbon, a US biochar producer, and Marathon Fusion, a US startup working on fuel processing efficiency for nuclear fusion.
Anglo American will retain its stakes in these startup but they are no longer managed by the CVC team, which has been disbanded.
The reorganisation comes after a year of turmoil for Anglo American after its share price dropped last December, making it the target of a failed takeover attempt from Australian rival BHP in May. This prompted a significant restructuring, and the company recently announced it would sell its platinum business, AmPlats. Last week, it sold the remains of its coal portfolio to Peabody Energy, a US coal mining company. The CVC activities were closed as part of the restructuring.
“Closing Decarbonisation Ventures followed an earlier announcement Anglo American made to analysts about streamlining operations,” said Arbelaez.
A number of alternative exit options were considered for the investments, including an attempted sell-off on the secondary market or to hand them over to third-party fund managers.
“Top management focused on the priorities and the short timeframes set by the [restructuring] strategy. Venturing by definition is a long term, patient activity, and therefore was deprioritised,” said Arbelaez.
Despite the closure, Arbelaez says the portfolio is “performing well.”
Arbelaez said Anglo American remains committed to decarbonisation efforts that can have impact on a relatively short time scale, such as changing to renewable energy sources. However, the venturing activities represented more long-term bets.
Friday marked the end of the six-month standstill period after BHP’s takeover attempt, which under London market rules means another bid can be made for Anglo American.
A spokesperson from Anglo American said: “As part of Anglo American’s portfolio simplification, we are realigning our venture capital activities in early-stage climate technologies. Going forward, our Decarbonisation Ventures investments will be managed by our Iron Ore Commodity Marketing Team. Our premium iron ore is the origin for much of Anglo American’s Scope 3 emissions, and therefore a natural place to locate our decarbonisation venturing.”
