Implats seals R9 billion BEE deal

Impala Platinum announced a R9 billion deal that will result in Black investors holding a 13% interest in the South African mining company and the Bafokeng business it acquired last year.

Implats, as the Johannesburg-based company is known, gained control of Royal Bafokeng Platinum almost a year ago following an 18-month takeover battle with Northam Platinum.

Before the takeover battle, the biggest shareholder in RBPlat was the Bafokeng nation, a community of people in South Africa’s North West Province.

As part of the approval conditions for that acquisition, Implats agreed to promote a greater spread of Black ownership in the platinum producer.

Under the so-called black economic empowerment deal, local communities and employees will each hold a 4% stake, while a group led by Siyanda Resources will have a 5% shareholding, Implats said in a statement on Monday.

South Africa introduced a mining charter in 2004 to distribute the benefits from mining more widely among the country’s citizens to make up for racial discrimination during apartheid.

At the time, that included a minimum Black shareholding target of 26%.