TINY ROWLAND’S SCANDAL HIT MINER SOLD FOR £285m

TROUBLED miner Lonmin is being bought by South African rival Sibanye-Stillwater for £285m.

The world’s third-biggest platinum producer, led for years by controversial businessman Tiny Rowland (pictured), has seen shares plunge more than 90pc over the past five years as it battled a 45pc crunch in platinum prices and soaring operating costs.

Chief executive Ben Magara said yesterday the firm still had great assets and workforce but had been hamstrung by its finances.

Shareholders in the 108-year-old business, originally formed as Lonrho, will get 0.967 Sibanye-Stillwater shares for each Lonmin share, and hold about 11.3pc of the enlarged group.

Rowland became chief executive in 1961 and turned Lonrho into a global conglomerate, buying The Observer newspaper in 1981, before splitting in 1998 to form Lonmin.