Implats further boosts stake in RBPlat to 40.46%

Impala Platinum (Implats) has further increased its shareholding in Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) to 40.46% from 40.11%.
The platinum miner said it concluded agreements to acquire a further 1,002,348 RBPlat Shares constituting about 0.35% of the RBPlat Shares in issue.
Implats plans to acquire more RBPlat shares in future, subject to potential prohibitions in the Companies Act and the Takeover Regulations.
Implats made an offer to RBPlat shareholders last November to buy their shares in RBPlat for R150 each, comprising R90 in cash and 0.3 of an ordinary Implats share for each RBPlat share held.
It will commit about $3.4-billion to its Southern African capital investment programme over the next five years.
An initial $521 million would be invested in the expansion of existing Zimbabwean smelting capacity and the construction of a sulphur dioxide abatement plant to mitigate air quality impacts.
At least R500 million had already been approved to expand treatment capacity by 10% in the medium term at its base metal refining facilities in Springs, South Africa.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, in Zimbabwe, Rough&Polished