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Cape Town - Last year the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) spent about R700m on redeeming the bank debts of BEE companies in the mining industry.
On Wednesday Ufikile Khumalo, head of the IDC's resources division, told the Mining Indaba that between R600m and R700m had been used for four big BEE deals whose loans had been called in by banks.
On several occasions the IDC had been asked to become shareholders in mining transactions where bank loans were being called in. There were also cases where shareholders had applied for capital and issued the IDC with new shares, says Khumalo.
He also announced that the value of the IDC's resources portfolio had fallen 40%-odd to R22bn last year.
Many of these are listed companies whose share prices have dropped. Unlisted companies also suffered in the downturn as a result of lost market share, cash flow problems and scaled-down projects. Every valuation had therefore produced lower values, Khumalo noted.
The biggest portion of the R6bn government had made available last year via the IDC to help companies threatened by the economic downturn had been taken up by the mining industry.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.
