Photo by: Duane Daws
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Competition Commission has approved triple-listed Coal of Africa Limited’s (CoAL’s) acquisition of Pan African Resources Coal Holdings, which owns 91% of the 50 000 t/m Uitkomst colliery, in KwaZulu-Natal.
The acquisition was approved without conditions.
CoAL and JSE-listed Pan African Resources in April signed a R275-million deal for the buyout of Pan African’s Pan African Resources Coal Holdings subsidiary.
The acquisition is considered complementary to CoAL’s developing Makhado project.
Pan African earlier stated that the disposal provided it with an opportunity to “crystallise the value created from its acquisition of Uitkomst”, and allowed it to focus on its Elikhulu gold tailings retreatment plant, with the cash flow supplementing its cash resources for the development of its growth opportunities.
Pan African CEO Cobus Loots on Wednesday told Mining Weekly Online the company was pleased with the approval, taking it one step closer to closing the deal.
The transaction would also result in an “attractive profit” of R157-million for Pan African, on the original investment of R148-million, which represented a total return of 106% over a 12-month period.
The Competition Commission found that the proposed transaction was unlikely to substantially prevent or lessen competition. In addition, the proposed transaction did not raise any public interest concerns.