A Zimbabwean platinum miner has said it plans to raise US$ 500 million through an Initial Public Offer (IPO) of its shares on the dome s tic bourse, for development and to meet a government requirement for part local o wnership.
Mimosa Mining Company, a subsidiary of South Africa’s Impala Platinum Holdings, said it also planned to give a stake in the company to its local management, and
the community where in mines platinum in central Zimbabwe.
The government in March told all foreign-owned businesses to offload controlling stakes to locals, and ordered them to submit plans how they will do this.
Under the new indigenisation laws, 51 per cent of the businesses should be owned by locals, and foreigners will only be allowed to remain with maximum stakes of
49 per cent.
In fulfilment of the new requirement, most foreign-owned businesses in Zimbabwe are either drawing up plans to list on the local stock exchange, or searching fo r domestic partners to team up with.
Mimosa managing director, Winston Chitando, said the company had submitted, to t he government, plans to list on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in fullfilment of th e indigenisation laws, but had yet to come to agreement with the authorities.
He said negotiations with the authorities were ongoing and declined to talk much on Mimosa’s IPO plans.
The company is one of the biggest platinum producers in Zimbabwe, and is one of those keenly targetted by the authorities under the indigenisation programme.
“Listing is one of the plans that are contained in our proposals to government, but it will not be prudent for me to clarify this in the press without first eng a ging with the government, it will be like pre-empting our plans,” Chitando said.
The company, which is also partly owned by an Australian group, produces around 200 000 tonnes of platinum a year, and part of the proceeds of the IPO would be i nvested in expanding output.
Zimbabwe has the second biggest reserves of platinum in the world after South Af rica but unlike South Africa, the country’s reserves are closer to the surface a n d cheaper to mine, a factor which has sparked a scramble for ownership among int e rnational mining giants.
