(Adds background)
HARARE, March 7 (Reuters) – Impala Platinum,
the world’s second-biggest producer, has made an “irrevocable
offer” to hand over a 29.5 percent stake in its Zimplats
unit to a Zimbabwe state-run fund, a senior minister
said on Wednesday.
Harare has been pushing Implats to hand over majority
control of Zimplats to local investors under a new ‘black
empowerment’ law.
Implats has resisted, especially over the latest demand for
a stake worth more than $300 million.
“They wrote to us today making an irrevocable offer to
comply and seeking an extension of the deadline to Tuesday to
allow the Implats board to meet this Friday,” Empowerment
Minister Saviour Kasukuwere told Reuters.
“We have accepted that.”
Implats officials could not be reached for immediate
comment.
Zimbabwe’s Youth and Empowerment Ministry is leading a push
for local blacks to take majority stakes in foreign firms,
though it has never spelled out how this will be done and Harare
cannot afford to buy the assets at market prices.
Zimplats has already handed over 10 percent of its shares to
“local communities”, and has offered to transfer a further 5
percent to a staff trust fund and 6.5 percent to a sovereign
wealth fund.
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