Anglo American Won't "Fiddle About" On A Tarmac Offer-Chairman

Diversified miner Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN) said it is ready to consider an attractively priced offer for its Tarmac building materials arm, but refrained from saying whether Marwyn Materials Ltd. (MMAT.LN) had approached the miner with an offer.

"Tarmac is one of the companies that is in the divestment program," Anglo American chairman John Parker told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in London Thursday.

"If and when we get an acceptable price, we won't fiddle about," he added.

Parker was responding to a query from a shareholder who asked the chairman to confirm whether Marwyn Materials had tabled a $6 billion offer for the miner's aggregates business.

Parker said: "is someone going to give us $6 billion?...Could you find that man, could you find a man with [such] a check book and bring them in here. Even the finance director is smiling."

Sky News reported Wednesday, without citing sources, that U.K.-listed investment vehicle Marwyn Materials had approached Anglo to buy a controlling stake in Tarmac. The report said analysts valued Tarmac at $4 to $6 billion, while a Credit Suisse report published Wednesday valued Tarmac at $2.5 billion to $3 billion.

U.K.-headquartered Tarmac owns quarries and cement manufacturing facilities in the Midlands, England and other parts of the U.K. and globally. Anglo American announced plans to divest the business several years ago as part of its plan to divest non-core assets. It has since received several approaches for Tarmac but hasn't closed a deal that would lead to the complete divestment of the business arm.

Tarmac owns businesses in the U.K., Romania, Turkey and the Middle East. It also owns a quarry in China.

Company Web Site: www.angloamerican.co.uk

-By Alex MacDonald, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]