Company news in brief

KPMG SA appeals for second chance

The chairman of KPMG South Africa on Monday appealed for the firm to be seen as a changed business, following months of efforts to regain public trust after becoming embroiled in major corruption scandals.

In an open letter published in South African newspapers, KPMG South Africa's executive chairman Wiseman Nkuhlu said the local unit of the audit giant was "very different" from 18 months ago, after a period of significant introspection and change.

"I would like to make an appeal to South Africa-business, government and the public," he wrote, asking for recognition of its efforts, patience and the chance to play a positive role in South Africa.

"KPMG has nothing to hide," the letter also said, adding the firm had cooperated with inquiries and would accept responsibility for its misdeeds.

Nkuhlu pointed to a number of things the firm had done to regain trust, including appointing a new chief executive and agreeing to repay R47 million in fees earned from Gupta companies, but acknowledged this would not happen quickly. "We failed by our own standards and we let the country down," he wrote. – Nampa/Reuters

SA needs to bail out Eskom, says Rothschild

The South African government needs to "bite the bullet" and bail out struggling state-run power firm Eskom, which has asked for R100 billion in government support, the chief executive of Rothschild & Co in South Africa told Reuters.

Rothschild advised Eskom in 2008 when it last received a major cash injection from government. At the time, Eskom sought R115 billion, but was granted a R60 billion loan which was later converted into equity.

Rothschild's Martin Kingston said in an interview that recapitalising Eskom could cost the country its last investment grade credit rating but that there was "no other obvious solution" if Eskom was to survive.

"The government knows that putting money into Eskom is going to exacerbate a downgrade scenario. But I think it is going to have to bite that bullet," Kingston said. "The level of debt on Eskom's balance sheet is completely unsustainable."

Eskom's debt has ballooned from around R106 billion to more than R419 billion rover the past decade, while electricity sales have fallen. – Nampa/Reuters

Congo's Gecamines to boost stake in Boss Mining

Democratic Republic of Congo's state mining company Gecamines said on Monday it would increase its stake in its Boss Mining joint venture with ENRC Africa Holdings to 49% after the two companies renegotiated terms.

The state miner is moving to increase its take from joint ventures with international miners such as Glencore and China Molybdenum, which it accuses of not bringing enough money to the country.

Congo is Africa's biggest copper and cobalt producer and also mines gold and diamonds, but it is one of the world's least developed countries with an annual budget of roughly US$5 billion.

In a statement on Monday, Gecamines said its share in Boss Mining would rise to 49% from 30%, while ENRC's stake would fall to 51% from 70%.

A Boss Mining debt of US$1.5 billion towards ENRC – a subsidiary of Kazakhstan's Eurasian Resources Group - has been cancelled, and the signing bonus payable by ENRC to Gecamines was raised to US$165 from US$35 per tonne of copper and copper equivalent, the statement said. – Nampa/Reuters

Rio Tinto partner says yet to make big copper find

Exploration by Rio Tinto at one of its sites in a part of Western Australia that has been touted as potentially rich in copper has so far failed to find any economically viable veins of ore, the miner's partner in the project said yesterday.

Antipa Minerals lodged a series of exploration updates with the Australian Securities Exchange including one covering its Citadel project with Rio in the state's Paterson province.

Antipa noted "weak mineralisation" in the Folly target area that is part of that project, adding that at this stage there was "no follow-up envisaged". It said that no follow-up was warranted at the MB1 target area either.

In the past year, Rio has boosted its exploration holdings tenfold in the Paterson, beyond its shared ground with Antipa as miners step up exploration to secure growth.

Rio's interest in the area, which already hosts one of Australia's largest copper and gold mines - Newcrest's Telfur, has sparked a stampede into adjacent lots by other explorers, who see Rio's aggressive activity as an indicator of a highly-promising find.

SoftBank's blockbuster IPO reaches US$23.5 bn

SoftBank Corp priced its initial public offering (IPO) at 1 500 yen per share and will sell an extra 160 million shares to meet solid demand, a regulatory filing showed, raising 2.65 trillion yen (US$23.5 billion) in Japan's biggest-ever IPO.

That makes the share sale one of the largest of all time globally, just shy of the record US$25 billion that Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised in 2014.

The price set by SoftBank Group Corp's Japanese telecommunications unit was unchanged from the indicative price, and its overallotment option will be exercised in full, the filing to the finance ministry showed on Monday.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday said the shares will be traded on its first section from Dec. 19.

The IPO pricing comes just days after Japan's third-largest mobile phone network provider by subscriber numbers suffered rare nationwide service outage. SoftBank said the disruption would not affect its earnings and dividend forecast made on Nov. 12. – Nampa/Reuters