Has ArcelorMittal SA really avoided ‘the usual suspects’ in its BEE deal?
A FORMER government-appointed commissioner, a development bank finance chief and a former deputy finance minister are on course to become major shareholders in ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa), taking a chunk out of billionaire Lakshmi Mittal’s stake in the continent’s largest steel maker.Apportioning a 22% stake valued at R2.3bn to black investors, employees and communities is a way for the struggling company to support the government’s strategy of boosting black South Africans’ ownership of the economy.While Amsa says the black economic empowerment deal is "broad-based", members of the country’s business elite will get 12% of its equity while workers and communities living near its operations will get less, sharing about 10%.The producer scrapped a transaction in 2011 that would have benefited President Jacob Zuma’s son, Duduzane after opposition party and labour union criticism.Black economic empowerment has been criticised for benefiting only a small, often politically connected elite ra...
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