The majority of black shareholders in Sasol’s Inzalo — the R28bn empowerment structure launched by the oil and chemicals group in 2008 to hold 10% of its shares — will have gained nothing but a portion of dividend distributions when the scheme matures in 2018, unless the shares appreciate rapidly. This underlines the hazards of heavily geared equity ownership structures in volatile commodities companies for new black shareholders with no capital. Although a few Sasol Inzalo shareholders bought in using their own money, most of the 270,000 participants — who included the public, customers and suppliers, employees and an educational foundation — were funded by debt designed to be repaid from dividends and appreciation in the share price. Inzalo’s participants earned R2.5bn of R7.6bn paid in dividends over 10 years, while R5.1bn went to service debt. Sasol’s shares, at R370 on Wednesday, are barely above the R366 at which the scheme was priced. The shares largely track oil prices and t...
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