JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – JSE-listed Exxaro on Tuesday said all conditions precedent to the specific repurchase of shares from its black economic empowerment (BEE) partner Main Street 333 (MS333) have been met.
Exxaro will acquire nearly 44-million ordinary shares from MS333 in a deal valued at around R3.5-billion.
The delisting and subsequent cancellation of the shares will occur on Friday.
The share repurchase follows the unwinding of its previous BEE deal with MS333, which held 50.19% of the issued ordinary shares of Exxaro, on November 28.
Exxaro has structured a new BEE deal and has come under fire from power utility Eskom, to which it supplies coal, and other parties, as the new scheme will result in a 30% BEE shareholding in Exxaro.
Eskom requires companies wanting to sign new coal supply agreements (CSAs) with it to have at least 50% black ownership and while Exxaro’s existing CSAs with Eskom will not be impacted on, Eskom has said it wants to meet with Exxaro executives about the issue.
Exxaro’s shares were trading 1.54% lower on the JSE on Tuesday morning.