ArcelorMittal South African (Amsa), the South African arm of the world’s largest steel maker, has canned its acquisition of Imperial Crown Trading (ICT) for R800-million.
The company on Thursday clarified that an agreement between its wholly owned subsidiary Opco and ICT, relating to the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of ICT, had lapsed.
ICT’s sole asset is a prospecting right in relation to a 21.4% undivided share, granted by the Department of Mineral Resources, over the Sishen iron ore mining area.
Amsa said the proposed acquisition was subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions precedent and on August 12 the agreement lapsed without all the conditions being fulfilled.
In terms of the announcement of the ICT acquisition made by Amsa last year, one of the conditions of the acquisition was that ICT retain the right over Sishen.
The awarding of the prospecting right to ICT is still being questioned in court.
Amsa’s statement follows market uncertainty over whether Amsa would go ahead with the ICT acquisition after its R9.1-billion black economic empowerment deal, which involved some of the ICT directors, fell through.
The acquisition of ICT was announced in August, on the same day that Amsa unveiled its BEE deal.
“The process to acquire ICT is ongoing,” an Amsa spokesperson said earlier this week. — I-Net Bridge