* Delayed IPO due to difficult market conditions
* Plans 50,000 bpd coal-to-liquids plant in Zimbabwe
JOHANNESBURG, June 21 (Reuters) – South African coal miner
LontohCoal has delayed its $1 billion Hong Kong initial public
offering due to difficult market conditions, ex tending the time
frame for the listing to the end of February next year, its
chief executive said.
Tshepo Kgadima said the listing, originally planned for the
first half of 2012, would help speed up its projects in South
Africa and Zimbabwe. These include a planned $5.5 billion,
50,000 barrels-per-day coal-to-liquids plant the company hopes
to construct by 2017 to supply diesel and other fuel products to
the Zimbabwean and regional markets.
“I’m confident that in the current financial year which ends
in February we should be able to conclude this IPO. We are ready
to launch once equity capital markets improve,” he told Reuters.
A gloomy outlook for the world economy has made equity
markets volatile and investors wary of putting money into new
listings. Last month, London jeweller Graff Diamonds pulled its
planned $1 billion IPO in Hong Kong.
LontohCoal has also decided to double the target for its IPO
from an original $500 million after completing more detailed
studies on some of its projects,.
In the interim, the group has launched an over-the-counter
trading platform to broaden its shareholder base and provide
liquidity and an exit for its initial investors.
The company decided to have its primary listing in Hong Kong
rather than Johannesburg because of its large exposure to Asia.
Continued…
