Message Mer 18 Déc 2013 18:39

Zambia’s ZCCM-IH Triples Asset Value Before 2014 Rights Offe

Zambia’s ZCCM Investment Holdings (MLZAM), which holds minority stakes in the country’s mines on behalf of the government, said its asset value more than tripled because of accounting changes.

Its shares in mines owned by companies including Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN), Vedanta Resources Plc (VED) and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM) are worth 7.4 billion kwacha ($1.4 billion) compared with the 2.3 billion kwacha previously reported, the Lusaka-based company said in its 2013 annual report.

ZCCM-IH said it’s revaluing the assets at fair value, instead of at the cost of acquisition before a planned rights offer next year. The Zambian government, which owns 87.6 percent of the company, has agreed to swap all or part of the 1.9 billion kwacha ZCCM-IH owes it for shares.
“The whole balance sheet restructuring exercise is expected to be completed in 2014,” Wila Mung’omba, ZCCM-IH’s executive chairman, said in the report.

ZCCM-IH traded at 2.70 euros a share as of 3:58 p.m. on the NYSE Euronext in Paris.

ZCCM-IH was formed in 2000 to house the government’s minority stakes in mines in Africa’s biggest copper producer after the country reversed the 1970s nationalization of the industry.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Hill in Lusaka at mhill58@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net