Copper foundry, component engineering and production company Thos Begbie & Company (TB&Co) is positioning itself for a duel listing on the JSE and the Toronto Stock Exchange by May 2011.

TB&Co CEO Edwin Dreyer reports that this is in line with the company’s growth aspirations and its aim to be closer to its customers.

“TB&Co is finding it challenging being 
geographically remote from markets, such as Russia, China, Canada, Australia and Japan. It was also becoming expensive and logistically challenging to ship the components to these markets. 
“Currently, the company is air-freighting over 140 t of copper components to Australia, which is costly and uses up a lot of resources,”
says Dreyer.

Another aim of the company is to establish production sites in Canada and Australia within two years of the company’s listing. 
This will further enable it to build a close working relationship with its client base.

In addition, the company will enter into technology agreements with major foundry companies in these countries.

“The Canadian production facility will be based near Toronto, while the Australian 
facility will be based in Melbourne. 
“It is TB&Co’s intention to establish its Canadian and Australian facilities as joint venture companies with established companies in those countries,” says Dreyer.

He adds that the company is investigating the possibility of establishing a production 
facility in India; however, this will only be 
established after the Australian and Canadian offices have gained a significant foothold in their geographical areas.

The company has been considering the 
dual listing and expansion plans for over two years. 
However, Dreyer reports that the com-
pany lacked the necessary critical mass to drive this. Noting that the South African environment was not the most conducive in which to raise capital, one of the most important 
aspects of the critical mass, the shareholders of 
Thos Begbie Holdings (TBH) sold a 70% stake in its ferroalloy smelting facility in Mpumalanga to platinum major Jubilee Platinum.
The remaining 30% of the facility is still in the hands of the major shareholder of TBH, namely TB&Co.

“The sale of the majority shareholding in the Mpumalanga facility to Jubilee was merely 
a business transaction. 
“Jubilee needed an existing brownfield 
facility with a smelter and electricity supply that is independent of Eskom to drive 
forward its ConRoast technology, and 
TB&Co needed capital to help fund its 
listing. 
“The sale of the 70% in TBH has no adverse effect on TB&Co – rather, it has helped the company expand beyond its current means,” says Dreyer.

He adds that the international climate for raising capital over the past two years has been much better than the climate in South Africa.

“There has been a significant decrease in 
demand for furnace components over the 
past two years, while mining companies 
needed to scale back on their production 
activities. 
“South Africa felt the worst of it because, in 2008, companies went through the energy 
crisis, and then, in 2009, companies had to deal with the fallout of the global financial crisis,” says Dreyer.

As a result of the 2008 energy crisis, ferro-
chrome giant Merafe Resources had to 
shut down 20 of its blast furnaces; these furnaces were kept off line as the country moved from the energy crisis into the financial 
crisis. 
The company has subsequently brought 11 of the 20 furnaces back on line and plans to bring the remaining nine furnaces back on line as demand peaks.

Dreyer adds that there are now visible signs of recovery and he expects that, by the end of the year, there will be a significant spike in demand for commodities and, hence, 
furnace rebuilds.

He says the

financial crisis provided companies with the opportunity to manage care-and-maintenance programmes on furnaces. One such company is ArcelorMittal South Africa, which carried out an intensive care-and-
maintenance programme on its major facilities in Newcastle and Vereeniging during the slowdown.