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Johannesburg - Standard Bank Group [JSE:SBK] said on Friday it would appeal an arbitration ruling to refund at least R528m worth of shares to a union pension fund.
"Standard Bank will, within a week, appeal the whole of the award of the arbitrator," Africa's largest lender said in a statement, adding the arbitrator had failed to take into consideration several mitigating issues.
An arbitrator ordered the bank this month to pay at least R528m worth of shares to a pension fund belonging to the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union.
The case, which had previously been in litigation in a high court, dates back to a 2002 deal between the bank and the fund in which the fund lent Standard Bank shares and was later repaid.
The arbitrator ruled the deal should have never happened and ordered Standard Bank to surrender shares in mobile firm MTN Group [JSE:MTN] and media company Naspers [JSE:NPN] worth about R528m, based on this week's prices.
The bank's shares were down 1.10% to R107.33 on the JSE on Friday.
