Zimbabwe: Waiting for Abramovich
Local media are reporting that Governor of Chukotka and co-owner of Evraz Group Roman Abramovich is interested in buying the Hwange Colliery Co. after a visit to that country. Hwange owns a coal mine in the west of Zimbabwe. Spokesmen for Abramovich deny that information but analysts say that, at $62 million, the company would be a good buy, in spite of the high risks of working in the African country. The Russian businessman is also said to be interested in the local Hwange soccer team.
Forty percent of the Hwange Colliery Co. belongs to the Zimbabwean authorities. Local electricity generators consumer 72 percent of the coal its mine produces, 197,300 tons, which accounts for 52 percent of the country's consumption. The company has 3200 employees and its stock is traded in Harare, Johannesburg and London. Reports of Abramovich's interest in the company appeared in the government newspaper The Herald, with “the approval of government observers,” that paper's editor-in-chief, Mduduzi Matutu, told Kommersant, who stood by the story.
Although the price for the mine is right, its output is low for export purposes. There are also high risks involved in investing in Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe takes a dim view of foreign investors. An order was proposed last year to turn controlling packages in all foreign-owned companied over to local residents. “Men with guns can simply take your money there,” observed one Russian with experience in Zimbabwe. In addition, the inflation rate there in January of this year was 100,580.2 percent.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 19, 2008
|
