* Implats to sell 31 pct stake in Zimplats to Zimbabwe
* Says will not transfer stake unless Zimbabwe pays
* Deadline, value of deal still outstanding
(Adds detail, analyst comment)
JOHANNESBURG, March 14 (Reuters) – South Africa’s
Impala Platinum said on Wednesday that the Zimbabwean
government would have to find the money to buy the 31 percent
stake it wanted in its local unit Zimplats or the stake
would not be transferred.
Zimbabwe is demanding that foreign-owned companies transfer
a 51 percent stake in their local operations to local investors
and the government has pressurised miners to set an example.
After months of wrangling and threats that the government
would ensure its law would be enforced, Implats said it would
sell a 31 percent stake to the Zimbabwe government and another
20 percent to local communities and Zimplats’ employees.
The solution had in principle been accepted by Harare.
“If they don’t come up with the cash the stake will not be
transferred,” Implats Chief Executive David Brown said during a
conference call aimed at providing more clarity on the
in-principle deal it had reached with the government on Tuesday.
The stake, whose value must still be decided, will only
become available for sale once the government has compensated
Implats for land it had released to the state as part of a
separate agreement almost six years ago, the miner said.
Continued…
