Anglo-American has become South Africa's largest banking concern by purchasing a controlling interest in Barclays National Bank operations in South Africa. And it has reportedly bought into Ford's South African operations by merging its Amcar facilities into a new company in which Ford will have a minority share. In 1975, Chrysler Corporation merged its operations in South Africa with an Anglo-American subsidiary. Anglo-American controls 85 percent of the companies quoted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and about 60 percent of the exchange's total value. Today, De Beers owns almost 40 percent of Anglo, and Anglo owns a large share of De Beers.
Diversification is seen as a hedge against political upheaval.
According to Milton Moskowitz's The Global Market Place, Anglo- American accumulated more than one hundred companies during the 1970s, including some U.S. financial and mining interests. Anglo owns 39 percent of Minorco's stock and De Beers another 21 percent. Through the company's New York headquarters, Engelhard buys gold, silver and platinum from South African mines and refines them at plants in the United States and abroad. Anglo also has a presence in the United States, which extends to minerals such as copper, zinc, gold, silver, nickel and coal, by way of the Inspiration Resources Company, in which it has a 59 percent share. Minorco previously had a 14 percent stake in Salomon Brothers, Inc., a U.S. investment bank, which it sold last year.