Wesizwe Platinum shareholders yesterday gave the thumbs up to a R6-billion transaction in which a Chinese consortium will purchase a 51 percent stake in the company.
At the long-awaited annual general meeting (AGM) in Johannesburg yesterday, shareholders approved a proposal for Jinchuan Group, China-Africa Development Fund and Micawber 809 to finance the company’s major mining project in the North West.
Micawber 809 is wholly owned by the Wesizwe Empowerment Trust. The Wesizwe Empowerment Trust was created as part of the capitalisation structure, an entity that was established with funding from the Chinese consortium.
Arthur Mashiatshidi, Wesizwe’s newly appointed chief executive, said he was optimistic about the future of the platinum producer.
“We think that this is an important milestone in the history of Wesizwe… I am happy and this is a vote of confidence from shareholders after negative activity that has been associated with the company. We will now focus on the business of value creation for our shareholders.”
Wesizwe shares closed unchanged at R2.36 yesterday.
Wesizwe plans to construct a mine at the Frischgewaagd-Ledig Complex in the North West and production is due to start in 2017.
The expected output at peak production is 350 000 ounces a year and up to 2 500 direct jobs will be created.
Wesizwe had postponed its annual meeting last August following an urgent court application over who had the right to vote the shares of the Bakubung Community Development Corporation and the shelf company, Newshelf 925.
In January, the applicants withdrew their case and this allowed the meeting to resume. At that stage, the company was caught in a complex civil and legal battle between factions of the Bakubung-Ba-Ratheo community, Wesizwe’s black economic empowerment partner. It was reported that community members at that meeting disrupted proceedings.
Yesterday, Ignatius Monnakgotla, a member of the Bakubung-Ba-Ratheo royal family, said the transaction would result in an improvement for the community.
“The AGM went a long way to see the community realise its dream of having jobs and the subsidiary industries that will come from the mine.”
Sipho Matshoba, the chairman of the Bakubung Concerned Group, said he was not aware of the meeting.
“If decisions were taken, we are concerned because the decisions affect the community and we read about it in the newspapers. We were told that our shares are missing, we are still fighting that battle.”
The community’s financial adviser, Musa Capital, is under investigation by the Financial Services Board for allegedly taking the community’s shares without consent.
The deal will go ahead pending certain outstanding conditions, and the approval of competition authorities and the financial surveillance department of the Reserve Bank. - Business Report
