Sasol drops rescue plan for BEE scheme
The fuel company says it will not sell about R13bn of shares to meet its obligation to repay debt owed by a black investor group and is considering other options
The Sasol share price experienced one of its strongest trading days on Monday following the board’s announcement that it was abandoning plans to issue 43-million new shares to rescue the Sasol Inzalo black economic empowerment (BEE) scheme. The Sasol share price closed almost 3% firmer at R396.26. The decision to scrap a proposed share placement was forced on the company after “extensive engagement with shareholders”. One BEE analyst, who described the dramatic decision as a “slap in the face for Sasol”, said it made no sense to abandon the planned orderly share placement exercise. The analyst said the alternative could be the disorderly sale of the 25-million Sasol shares that underpinned the Inzalo scheme when the scheme terminated in September 2018. A disorderly sale could do more damage to the Sasol share price. The special purpose vehicles (Fundcos) created to manage the scheme on behalf of tens of thousands of black investors will be forced to sell the shares to meet the fundi...
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