OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday
SOUTH African base metals group Anglovaal Mining has bought a 15% stake in mining and steel firm Iscor, making it Iscor’s largest shareholder, the Financial Mail business magazine reported.
It said Anglovaal Mining, or Avmin, had invited the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which holds 11% of Iscor, to join forces for a management shakeup at the troubled steel group.
Avmin officials were not immediately available for comment while Iscor declined to comment.
Iscor’s share price, which jumped sharply on Wednesday after the company said it planned to list its steel interests separately on the JSE bourse, was up 13.16% at R17.20.
Iscor’s share price has been on the boil for the past week on mounting speculation that an international mining house initially thought to be Anglo American plc had bought 10% of its shares.
The Financial Mail quoted sources close to the companies as saying Avmin was interested in Iscor’s iron ore and coal mining businesses.
It said Avmin was particularly interested in Iscor’s huge Sishen iron ore operation in the Northern Cape Province as it was close to Avmin’s 50% held Associated Manganese subsidiary.
”It’s the value of Sishen that holds the key to the success of any hostile play for Iscor. The rough estimate is that Sishen alone is worth more than Iscor’s current total market capitalisation of R3.7bn,” the magazine said. – Reuters