/ 3 April 2001

AVMIN, IDC HOLD OFF ON ISCOR REJIG

SOUTH Africa’s Anglovaal Mining Ltd and the state-run Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) on Friday said they would defer their proposal to call a special meeting to shake up steelmaker Iscor’s board. The two, which together hold about a 26% stake in Iscor, said in a joint statement that they would defer their call for a shareholders’ meeting pending “a comprehensive evaluation of various options”. It said these included “the latest Iscor restructuring proposal, in order to determine which option is in the best interests of Iscor shareholders”. Iscor said earlier this month that it would split into two companies, one devoted to mining the other to steel, in a bid to unlock shareholder value. Iscor, under pressure after showing poor results in recent years, said its iron ore, coal, base metals and heavy minerals businesses would be transferred into a new company, Minco. The steel assets would be held in a separate listed company, Steelco. Iscor’s management have vowed to fight the leadership challenge. – Reuters