Eskom’s funding plan is not at risk – CFO

Antoine e Slabbert

Eskom says its funding plans remain intact despite the decision by two fund managers to halt all lending to it on concerns about transparency and risk.

Futuregrowth Asset Management says it is halting further investment in Eskom, Transnet, Sanral, the Development Bank, Land Bank and the Industrial De- velopment Corporation. Futuregrowth cited concerns about how the SOCs are being run, government infighting and threats to the independence of the finance ministry as reasons for its decision.

On Thursday, Denmark’s Jyske Bank AS announced that it had taken a decision to stop lending money to Eskom. Senior money manager at the bank Rune Hejrskov said: “I could easily see more lenders follow suit. We see issues on lending going forward and more governance issues.”

Eskom said it held regular engagements with local asset managers. Futuregrowth was one of the asset managers it spoke to “and current concerns were not raised”, Eskom said.

It vowed to continue to engage with Futuregrowth and the broader investor community “to understand the recent concerns raised regarding current and fu- ture investments into Eskom”.

Eskom chief financial officer Anoj Singh said: “As at the end of August 2016, Eskom has available liquidity of approximately R38 billion and has secured more than 57% of its borrowing requirement of R69 billion for the financial year 2016/17.”

He said, consequently, the Futuregrowth announcement does not place Eskom’s funding plan at risk.