IN SHORT: AngloGold Ashanti has crossed $50 billion in market capitalisation, dethroning Naspers as Africa’s most valuable listed company for the first time in nearly a decade. The surge was driven by record gold prices and a 16% rise in annual production to 3.1 million ounces. Africa’s combined top 250 listed companies now total $795 billion in market value, up 34% from last year.
AngloGold Ashanti has taken the top spot on Africa’s corporate league table after its market capitalisation doubled to just under $50 billion, ending Naspers’s long reign as the continent’s most valuable listed company and marking the most significant reordering of African listed equity in years. The ranking comes from African Business magazine’s newly released Top 250 Companies 2026 report. Naspers had held the top position for the better part of a decade, anchored by its stake in China’s Tencent and the broader Prosus technology platform.
- AngloGold Ashanti reported headline earnings of $2.7 billion for 2025, up from $954 million in 2024, on the back of higher gold prices and a 16% increase in production to 3.1 million ounces. The majority of the output gain came from its 50% stake in the Sukari gold mine in Egypt.
- Gold prices climbed from $3,000 per ounce at end of March 2025 to $4,400 one year later. J.P. Morgan has raised its end-2026 gold price forecast to $6,300 per ounce, up from an earlier $5,055 base case, citing central bank buying from emerging markets, persistent inflation concerns and continued de-dollarisation.
- The combined market capitalisation of Africa’s top 250 listed companies rose 34% to $795 billion in 2026, recovering sharply from a trough of $503 billion in 2024. The peak was $948 billion in 2015.
- AngloGold Ashanti operates across eight countries with key African assets at Sukari (Egypt), Obuasi (Ghana), Iduapriem (Ghana), Geita (Tanzania), Siguiri (Guinea), and Kibali (DRC). CEO Alberto Calderon, who restructured the portfolio and moved the primary listing to New York, now leads the continent’s most valuable publicly traded company.
- The transition from a tech-anchored to a mining-anchored apex reflects broader shifts in African listed equity. Nigerian shares have also surged on improved currency stability, with Bua Cement up 50% in the first ten weeks of 2026 after a 92% gain across 2025.
The structural implication for African portfolio investors is significant. Naspers’s reign at the top was a proxy for tech and China exposure through Tencent. AngloGold’s ascent reflects the gold cycle, critical mineral demand and the African mining thesis more directly. For global allocators tracking the most valuable African equity as a guide to continental capital flows, the shift from tech to mining at the apex signals a reweighting that runs through portfolio construction at every level. Africaspoint covered the DRC’s related capital markets debut, where the country raised $1.25 billion in its first-ever sovereign Eurobond in April 2026, with orders from over 110 global investors exceeding $5.2 billion.
The Bigger Picture: Gold is the proximate driver but the structural story is African mining’s place in the global energy transition. AngloGold’s assets span critical mineral jurisdictions across Egypt, Ghana, Tanzania, Guinea and the DRC. With J.P. Morgan forecasting gold at $6,300 by year-end and central bank buying at all-time highs, the earnings trajectory justifies a higher multiple. The question for longer-term investors is whether the gold cycle sustains or a tech recovery eventually restores the old Naspers dynamic. For now, Africa’s richest listed company digs it out of the ground.
Source: African Business, May 2026 / Billionaires.Africa, May 16 2026
