News: S32 UPDATE 1-S.Africa coal miner Thungela valued at $253 mln after Anglo spin-off

(Adds detail, analyst comment)

JOHANNESBURG, June 7 (Reuters) - South Africa's Thungela Resources TGAJ.J , which was spun off from Anglo American AAL.L , is valued at roughly 3.4 billion rand ($253 million) after listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Monday in a test of investor appetite for coal miners.

Thermal coal miners have been struggling to find investor favour amid growing climate concerns and a shift towards sustainable investing, with global mining giants offloading such assets as they transition out of the most polluting fossil fuels.

At market open the 136 million shares in Thungela, meaning 'to ignite' in isiZulu, were priced at 25.00 rand per share after the newly formed company listed in Johannesburg with a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The demerger gave ownership to existing owners with investors receiving 1 Thungela share for every 10 Anglo American shares they hold.

"Institutional investors have been moving away from coal mining in recent years. Investors now require many funds to avoid polluting assets such as coal miners making it difficult to find large cornerstone investors," said analyst John Meyer of SP Angel.

"The performance of Thungela shares will give us a clue as to how influential ESG is in terms of stock market investment," Meyer said.

"People who own Anglo American itself and were given these shares probably don't want them. I think over the next few weeks there will be more selling pressure on the stock," said Greg Davies, a trader at Cratos Capital.

Anglo American spun off its South African thermal coal mines joining the world’s largest mining company BHP Group (BHP) , Australia's South32 and global miner Rio Tinto RIO.L in taking steps to go thermal coal free.

Despite calls to exit thermal coal, countries such as China and South Africa, which derive a majority of their power from coal, have plans for more coal-fired power stations.

"Our conviction is that thermal coal remains part of the energy mix for decades to come," Thungela CEO July Ndlovu said during the listing presentation.

Coal futures at $108 per tonne are up around 32% from a year ago, amid an economic rebound from the coronavirus pandemic and strong demand from China.

($1 = 13.4490 rand)