Anglo/South Africa: a pound of flesh?

South Africa is likely to want its pound of flesh from bidders for Anglo American. Xstrata’s rebuffed merger proposal would probably face few formal regulatory or competition issues. But the advent of Jacob Zuma’s union-friendly administration and the potential loss of another South African corporate titan to a foreign peer could see obstacles put in the way of a transaction. The government owns 5% of Anglo through South Africa’s national pension fund. But the influence it wields over the divers...