MONDAY, 1.00PM
SPOORNET, the railways division of transport parastatal Transnet, has a bought 20% stake in Interferrea, a Brazilian-owned transport consortium.
The deal is the first step towards Spoornet’s goal of entering joint venture opportunities in South America, the Far East and Africa. According to Spoornet executive director Mafike Mkwanazi, Interferrea recently acquired the Brazilian Malha Centro-Leste and Malha Sul rail networks, with over 14 000km of line, and Spoornet had been offered a 20% share in the consortium. Mkwanazi said Spoornet then set up a new operating company, Spoornet Brazil, with initial capital of $10-million in voting shares, and an additional $20-million in preference shares represented by assets.
Mkwanazi added that Spoornet is becoming increasingly active in Africa, and had recently reached an agreement with the new government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to resume its operations there. He also said Spoornet is investigating bidding for the Maputo harbour upgrade and for rehabilitation contracts for railways in Angola, Cameroon, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
He said Spoortnet is being cautious in its approach because it is handling state assets, but that exploratory trip shave been made to Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, with the company also interested in Argentine, Chile, China and the Pakistan.
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