New management lifts Pallinghurst share price

PALLINGHURST, the JSE and Bermuda listed investment fund with interests in mining, strengthened 4.3 percent to trade at R3.15 a share at 11.30am on Friday, after it announced a new management team at Gemfields.

The share later closed 0.66 percent higher at R3.04. Pallinghurst, which acquired Gemfields, a producer of 30 percent of the world’s emeralds and rubies earlier this year, said it had appointed Sean Gilbertson as the new chief executive.

David Lovett, who joined Gemfields in 2008, was appointed as Gemfields’ chief financial officer.

Gemfields was delisted on the AIM after Pallinghurst won the takeover battle and was now an unlisted subsidiary, the company said.

It said following the de-listing, Gemfields chief executive, Ian Harebottle, and chief financial officer, Janet Blas, had resigned “by mutual consent”.

Both fought strongly against the takeover.

The rest of the board has also resigned following the delisting.

“The compulsory acquisition process has commenced, and it is expected that Gemfields will be 100 percent owned by Pallinghurst by the end of August 2017,” the company said in a statement.

Pallinghurst was set up and chaired by Brian Gilbertson, Sean Gilberton’s father who oversaw the merger of Billiton, which he ran, with BHP in 2001.

It is invested in a manganese asset in the Northern Cape and Sedibelo Platinum Mine.

Brian Gilbertson said on Friday: “Gemfields is a uniquely attractive business with strong growth potential.

“We intend to focus on profitability in pursuit of the vision of building the ‘De Beers of coloured gemstones’.”

Brian Gilbertson and Pallinghurst chief executive Arne Frandsen had joined the board of Gemfields as chairperson and deputy chairperson, respectively.

In terms of the strategy, Pallinghurst said a thorough review and analysis of Gemfields operations, including processes, plans, budgets and financial position was under way.

However, it raised red flags over the level of debt at Gemfields.