Message Sam 13 Sep 2014 09:10

Zambia State Mine Investor Pays Out First Copper Dividend

Zambia State Mine Investor Pays Out First Copper Dividend
By Matthew Hill Sep 12, 2014 4:18

ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc (MLZAM), the company formed to hold the Zambian state’s minority stakes in local copper mines, will pay the African nation a dividend for the first time since it was set up in 2000.

The government will receive 220 million kwacha ($35 million), helping to bolster state revenues that Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda last month said were “severely constrained.” The company disclosed the dividend in the 2014 annual report posted to its website. It’s the first since its formation, according to ZCCM data.

Zambia, Africa’s biggest copper producer after the Democratic Republic of Congo, owns 87.5 percent of ZCCM Investments. The company holds stakes ranging from 10 percent to 30 percent in businesses that moved into private hands in the 1990s after the government reversed former president Kenneth Kaunda’s nationalization program.

ZCCM-IH owns shares in the local units of companies including Vedanta Resources Plc (VED), Glencore Plc (GLEN) and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM)

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