Lontoh Coal (www.lontohcoal.com), a South African unlisted mining company with projects in Zimbabwe, wants to do its next public offer in Hong Kong, according to a Reuters report on a South China Morning Post story. The initial public offer (IPO) aims to raise up to $500 million.
According to the report Lontoh chief executive Tshebo Kgadima said he had chosen to list in Hong Kong as it might have been difficult for his company to sell shares in New York or London as the United States forbids trade or investment with Zimbabwean firms linked to the country’s president Robert Mugabe: “It is easier for us to look towards Asia than North America or some European markets.”
The newspaper said the IPO is planned for the first half of 2011 and that Macquarie’s Johannesburg office was an adviser of Lontoh on its fundraising plans. Lontoh is worth up to $1.5 billion, is planning a Hong Kong IPO in the first half of 2011, the newspaper said citing Lontoh’s chief executive Tshebo Kgadima.
Reuters commented that Lontoh would be the first African company to list in Hong Kong as the Hong Kong bourse is making an effort to attract more foreign companies to seek a listing in the territory.
The company describes itself on its website as “an unlisted public company active in the acquisition, exploration and mining of metallurgical and thermal coal. Though it is a new entrant in the field of coal mining and exploration, LontohCoal has established a presence and reputation as an independent coal mining company with a portfolio of metallurgical and thermal coal properties in South Africa and Zimbabwe.”
In May it bought 51% of Liberation Mining Pvt Ltd in Zimbabwe, and it lists its major prospects and sites as Lubimbi and Entuba in Zimbabwe and in Hlobane and Lephalele in South Africa.