In the media

Implats, Bafokeng deal approved

15 March 2007

Source: FIN24

Publication: www.fin24.co.za

[Sikonathi Mantshantsha] Johannesburg – Impala Platinum (Implats) shareholders on Wednesday voted to approve the mining company’s transaction with the Royal Bafokeng Nation (RBN) of the North West province.

The parties entered into an agreement late last year, in terms of which the 300 000-strong Bafokeng Nation would convert into Implats shares the royalty payments due to it for the next 31 years.

The RBN owns the land on which Implats mines its platinum in the Rustenburg Valley. Until recently the RBN was rewarded with billions of rand in royalties for the right to mine the land, transforming the Bafokeng into Africa’s wealthiest tribe.

The transaction transformed the Bafokeng into Implats’s largest shareholder with over 75m (13.4%) of the company’s shares.

Implats and the RBN agreed on the deal in September 2006, then valued at R12.5bn (R170/Implats share) and the shares were transferred to the Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH) in March 2007.

The RBH holds all the Royal Bafokeng Nation’s investments.

Implats’s shares closed at R245 on Wednesday, valuing the Bafokeng stake at over R20bn.

In March, the RBH’s investment portfolio was estimated at over R25bn, with Implats making up more than half at R17bn.