Indian billionaire Agarwal to invest up to 2 billion pounds in Anglo American

LONDON (Reuters) - Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal said on Wednesday he would buy a stake of up to 2 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) in Anglo American but had no intention of trying to take control of the global miner.

Agarwal, who has majority control of Hindustan Zinc Ltd through Vedanta Ltd , will make the investment through his family trust Volcan Holdings, Volcan said in a statement.

Anglo, which has a market value of around 16.75 billion pounds ($20.55 billion), declined to comment.

"This is an attractive investment for our family trust ... I am delighted to become a shareholder in Anglo American plc," Agarwal said in the statement.

Anglo, which focuses on diamonds, platinum and copper, has along with other mining companies recovered from a slump in commodity prices in 2015.

The company's shares soared nearly 300 percent last year and it said in February it would resume paying dividends and slow down its asset sales as it was no longer under financial pressure.

The statement also said that neither Volcan nor Vedanta intended to make an offer to acquire Anglo American.

($1 = 0.8151 pounds)

(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala and Sanjeeban Sarkar; Editing by MarkPotter)

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