Sibanye-Stillwater reports that the South African Competition Tribunal has approved the proposed acquisition of Lonmin Plc, subject to specific conditions. In addition to the conditions agreed between Sibanye-Stillwater and the Competition Commission (details of which were provided in the announcement on 18 September 2018), a further condition has been imposed by the Competition Tribunal, namely:
• A moratorium on retrenchments at the Lonmin operations for a period of six months from the implementation date. This excludes any voluntary separation agreements and ordinary course of business terminations, and does not prevent the Company from initiating proceedings in terms of Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act, as long as such proceedings are not finalised before six-months from implementation of the Transaction
Sibanye-Stillwater sees this as “a logical step in executing its PGM strategy. By combining Sibanye-Stillwater’s existing, and contiguous, South African PGM assets with Lonmin’s operations, including Lonmin’s processing facilities, Sibanye-Stillwater will be able to unlock operational synergies and become a fully integrated PGM metals producer in South Africa.”
In particular, Sibanye-Stillwater has identified the following principal benefits to the Sibanye-Stillwater Group from the Acquisition:
- Consistency with Sibanye-Stillwater’s strategy
- Access to Lonmin’s own processing facilities in South Africa
- Realisation of significant synergies between Sibanye-Stillwater and Lonmin’s contiguous assets
- Potential upside from developmental projects.
The Lonmin Group’s revenue-generating operations are located in the Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC) in South Africa. The core mining operations, comprising 11 shafts and inclines in total, are located at Marikana, on the western limb of the BIC in the North West Province.
