Investors worried that debt-stricken Sasol may need to hold rights issue
The longer the oil price stays lower, the more pressure Sasol will face to review and restructure operations, one analyst says
Sasol’s record share plunge on Monday, coming as the oil price slumped and just days after the company credit rating was cut to junk by Moody’s Investors Service, is raising concern among investors that it may need to hold a rights offer as it struggles with a debt burden of about $8bn (about R127.6bn).
Fuel and chemicals producer, SA’s biggest company by sales, delayed an investor call scheduled for Tuesday to March 17, noting that its oil-price exposure for the rest of the financial year was not hedged. While the company had assumed oil would stay in the range of $50-$70 a barrel, Brent crude fell as low as $31 on Monday. Its stock plunged 47% by the close on the JSE, giving it a market value of R53bn...
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