BUSINESS LIVE: Wage growth eases to 5.1%; Abrdn confirms new CEO; Centamin set for $2.5bn takeover

Global miner AngloGold Ashanti will buy London-listed Egypt-focused smaller rival Centamin in a $2.5billion deal.

Under the terms of the deal, Centamin shareholders will get 0.06983 new AngloGold Ashanti shares for each Centamin share and $0.125 in cash.

The perceived value of the offer represents a premium of 36.7 per cent to Centamin’s Monday closing price of 120p.

Abrdn has named interim boss Jason Windsor as its new chief executive officer, with the ex-Aviva executive formally handed the task of rebooting the asset manager’s finances and performance.

Windsor took on the role of interim CEO in May, after predecessor Stephen Bird abruptly stepped down.

Abrdn, one of Britain’s best-known fund firms, has come under strain in recent years, reporting more than £10billion of outflows over each of the last two years, although it has provided encouragement to investors this year by beating performance forecasts and starting to axe costs.

Douglas Flint, chairman of Abrdn, said Windsor was the ‘the unanimous choice’ of the board to lead the company in its next phase.

‘He has made a huge impression both internally and externally since he joined Abrdn, particularly as someone whose actions evidence he cares deeply about our clients and customers and our people,’ Flint said.

Average weekly earnings before bonuses were up 5.1 per cent year-on-year in the three months to the end of July, in-line with expectations, while the unemployment rate eased to a 2024 low of 4.1 per cent, fresh data from the Office for National Statistics shows.