Moti open to selling shares in Zimbabwe
The Moti Group will consider selling shares in its Zimbabwean chrome-mining operations if the government pushes ahead with the proposal that has already met resistance from the country’s biggest platinum producer.
Zimbabwean policy makers are debating a bill that will require mining companies to list the majority of their shares on the local exchange or risk losing their mining rights as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration grapples with rebuilding an economy that halved in size under former president Robert Mugabe.
Impala Platinum Holdings, owner of Zimplats, said earlier in April the proposals would strangle investment and growth in the industry.
The Moti Group would be open to discussing the listing of the stock in its operation in Zimbabwe provided it made “business sense and has a strong rationale behind it”, the Johannesburg-based investment company said. African Chrome Fields would be an “attractive share” for money managers and retail investors because of its “great returns”, it said.
Nonetheless, the investor, which is planning to double its investments in Zimbabwe to $500m, does not expect the government to implement the proposals. “We believe it is unlikely that the government would prescribe such a matter, particularly as they are committed to focusing on investment instead of regulation,” the Moti Group said.