EXCLUSIVE: Assore aims to address free-float niggle
As the cash-flush mining and trading company eyes growth, its new board is considering how to tackle the limited number of shares in the public market and perceptions about it
Assore, a tightly held cash-flush mining and trading company best known for its conservative business model, is looking to address concerns on how few shares are publicly available as it scouts for smart ways to add growth. Under fresh, young leadership, Assore, which is synonymous with the wealthy Sacco family, intends increasing transparency about its business and strategy, trying to move away from the image of being a listed family-owned business. The difficulty for CEO Charles Walters, who worked across a broad range of assets at Anglo American and ultimately headed Invicta, is the 52% control over Assore held by Oresteel Investments, an entity 51% owned by the Sacco family and the balance by Sumitomo, a Japanese commodity trading company. Combined with the 26% empowerment ownership of the company through three entities, there is not a lot of room for Walters and his team to structure a plan to increase the number of publicly traded shares, but he said in an interview on Tuesday...
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