A saving grace that cemented our future
The process brought Sibanye-stillwater to the table to prevent the break up of the asset base, given the sentiment in SA
Lonmin’s 2015 Rights Issue was by no means a certainty, but it acted as the bridge for the company to get to the point where its workforce and the bulk of its assets had the chance of a better future in a diversified group like Sibanye-stillwater.
For Tanya Chikanza, Lonmin’s executive vice president of corporate strategy, investor relations and corporate communications, it was a tense process as she worked with her core team and awaited the outcome — a vital cash injection into the business, easing the concerns of anxious lenders.
The soundtrack to her sleepless night was Dido’s “White Flag” and its refrain about not surrendering.
The problem was the change in the investor base, which was strongly South African and swung fully behind the 2012 Rights Issue after the tragedy of Marikana.
As part of the senior management team, Chikanza was instrumental in pushing the Lonmin story hard with a more receptive international equity investor base.
With a lot of hard work and careful project management, the Rights Issue edged over the line.
Having joined Lonmin in 2010, Chikanza was able to draw heavily on her intimate knowledge of the international investment community, based on her previous experience in international investment banking in London, where Lonmin was one of her clients.
“Lonmin wouldn’t have gone to the wall but, given the sentiment in SA, it was very difficult,” she says.
“We needed that 2015 Rights Issue to get to this Sibanye-stillwater transaction, which gives our phenomenal assets and our people a chance. We are the first major platinum producer to truly act on consolidation in the industry,” she says.
Chikanza, supported by a strong internal team, drove the operational review when Lonmin was offering mines and undeveloped projects for sale, as well as the chance to buy excess processing capacity in its smelter and refining plants.
It was this process that attracted scores of interested parties. Various delegations had to be shuttled through Lonmin’s offices without bumping into each other, a process that brought Sibanye-stillwater to the table to prevent the break up of the asset base.
She had mixed emotions about the Sibanye-stillwater transaction.
“Part of me felt really emotional at the loss of independence, but then the conversation in my head quickly came round to ‘we are doing the right thing for our people, the assets and the country’.
“It is an exciting opportunity for the business and its future, even if it will be a little sad to say goodbye to the Lonmin with which I have been so involved, as we know it.”