Maitland Advisory LLP has told the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) that E Oppenheimer & Son International Limited (EOSIL), which is described as being “connected” with Nicholas Frank Oppenheimer, has sold another batch of Anglo shares, this time 2.1-million of them at £30.44 a share, between December 10 and December 13.

"We have no intention of selling further shares," E Oppenheimer & Son group MD James Teeger has been quoted as saying, but the horse has largely bolted as the Oppenheimer family now owns less than 2% of Anglo, which in turn owns 45% of De Beers.

In November 2006, the Oppenheimers sold a third of their holding in Anglo to Chinese billionaire Larry Yung, also to diversify their assets, Reuters recalls.

Moreover, 27.3-million of EOSIL’s Anglo shares are being held as security for a loan facility, the JSE has been told.

The future direction of EOSIL seems less steadfastly mining orientated than in the past.

The family’s investment vehicle has said that it plans to invest in areas countercyclical to the mining industry and was recently seen to be controversially involved in the waste business.

Nicky Oppenheimer, 65, who joined Anglo as personal assistant to the chairperson in 1968, remains on the board of Anglo, and leads family’s 40% ownership of De Beers as the diamond company’s group chairperson, a position he has held since 1998.

Jonathan Maximillian Ernest Oppenheimer, Nicky’s only child who has just turned 41, burst on to the diamond scene as MD of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) in 2004 – the South African wing – but has been far less visible as he ventured deeper into the De Beers group business.

This year Nicky Oppenheimer also withdrew as chairperson of DBCM after 12 years, giving way to new executive chairperson Barend Petersen, with the DBCM finance director Philip Barton taking over as DBCM CEO.

The company is left with its Venetia and Voorspoed diamonds mines in South Africa after selling several mines to the London-listed Petra Diamonds. Up for sale are the Finsch underground and the Namaqua alluvial diamond operations.

De Beers group has been without a group MD since the resignation of Gareth Penny, who has still to be replaced.

De Beers operates in more than 20 countries across six continents, employing more than 13 000 people, with mining operations across Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada.

A replacement for Blackie Marole, MD of Debswana, which is De Beers joint venture with the Botswana government, has just been announced. The new incumbent is Jim Gowans, the former De Beers Canada head.

Marole succeeded the former Debswana MD Louis Nchindo, who had been experiencing a barrage of media exposure in connection with alleged corruption and fraud before his death in mysterious circumstances earlier this year.