Europe/South Africa: Anglo American and Minorco to merge
Shares in the newly-created company, Anglo American (AA), formed from the merger of the two associate companies, Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Limited (AACSAL) and Luxembourg-based Minorco, have now begun trading on the London Stock Exchange. This is now AA's primary stock listing, while it has secondary listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the Swiss Exchange SWX.AA previously made an offer for the shares in Minorco, which was accepted by shareholders representing a 99.43% stake in Minorco. Existing shares in AACSAL and Minorco were de-listed on 21 May.While AACSAL and Minorco had participated in the paper industry through direct and indirect shareholdings in Mondi and Mondi Minorco Paper, the post-merger AA will organise these operations into "Anglo Forest Products", operating mainly under the name Mondi. The group's interests include stakes in Frantschach, Zellstoff Psls and Neusiedler in Austria, Swiecie in Poland, Aylesford in the UK and Aracruz in Brazil. Its share of 1998 production at pulp and paper mills totalled 600,000 tonnes of market pulp, more than one million tonnes of graphic paper and 811,000 tonnes of packaging paper.