Saturday, July 27, 2024

Vedanta in advanced stage to take over KCM

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Vedanta Resources, owned by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, said it has reached an “advanced stage” of executing agreements with the Zambian government over Konkola Copper Mines Plc assets that have been in provisional liquidation for about four years.

“Vedanta is alive to the fact that the talks have taken a little longer than initially anticipated,” it said in a statement on Sunday. “The company is firmly committed to the process.”

The Zambian government placed Konkola, of which Vedanta owns 79.4%, into provisional liquidation in 2019, and since then has been locked in legal battles with the company over the asset. The dispute has caused output to plunge.

Vedanta has pledged to invest $1 billion in the assets to double annual integrated production to 100,000 tons of copper, with the potential to 200,000 tons in the medium term.

Separately, Konkola struck a deal with Copperbelt Energy Corporation over a debt the mining company owed it.

The agreement will see KCM paying the company $20 million in installments.

There’s one matter left to agree on before reaching a deal with Vedanta, Zambian Mines Minister Paul Kabuswe told reporters on Friday, without saying what it was. “We are counting days, it’s no longer months,” he said in Lusaka.

12 COMMENTS

  1. Kikikikiki and is this the change that Zambians voted for….definitely just change of colors from green to red…remember i told you guys that they’re just renegotiating about kickbacks and how much HH and Kabuswe will get…this is broad day light robbery…ZAMBIANS I TOLD YOU THAT YOU’VE BEEN DUPED

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  2. And i quote ” we are about to announce new owners and not months but days”….Now which new owners???? So these Bandits were busy negotiating about their cuts….remember i said This is Bread and butter for HH….this is the crooked Vandeta who said he came to Zambia to become the richest man because Zambians are giving away minerals for free…

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  3. @Spaka and TIKKI
    You guys used to insult Vandeta 24/7…now lets see what you’re going to say ..the same man you labeled a thief and yes Vandeta is a known Mining Bandit….and your Supreme leader HH while in opposition said he will find better investors for the Mines…it turns out HH just negotiated a much bigger cut than what Lungu was putting in his pockets..INDEED THE CHANGE ZAMBIANS VOTED FOR…VANDETA RELOADED

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  4. Vedanta owns 79.4%
    How do you dispose off almost the owner of the company? The problem is the people who allowed Vedanta to acquire the 79.4% stake more than the government. You cant wake one day from a hangover and with your 20% ownership try to dispose off the giant. Doesnt work that way. If Vedanta refuses to dispose off their ownership, there is no way to get them out.

    BRING on Your arguments, what do you suggest the HH GRZ should have handled this case?

  5. Vedanta owns 79.4%
    How do you dispose off almost the owner of the company? The problem is the people who allowed Vedanta to acquire the 79.4% stake more than the government. You cant wake one day from a hangover and with your 20% ownership try to dispose off the giant. Doesnt work that way. If Vedanta refuses to dispose off their ownership, there is no way to get them out.

    BRING on Your arguments, what do you suggest the HH GRZ should have handled this case?

  6. Vendata is coming back for one reason. As former President Edgar Lungu revealed before the 2021 elections, Vendata was funding the UPND campaign. Now it is pay back time for the UPND to Vendata. This tells you that the mineral policy under the UPND is up for sale to the highest bidder. As social and political Anthropologist Dr James Musonda who has done a lot of ethnographic research in our mines has stated, it can only be because of corruption that the UPND is bringing back Vendata and it is Vendata that will help in the political death and burial of the UPND government because of Vendata’s past record of not fulfilling the agreements it enters into with GRZ. Zambians will pass their verdict on the UPND’s decision come 2026.

  7. LT is at it again with their damn moderation, what is wrong with this comment
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    Vedanta owns 79.4%
    When you have almost the entire company owner, how do you dispose of him? The problem lies with the people who allowed Vedanta to acquire the 79.4% stake more than the government. With 20% ownership, you cannot try to dispose off the giant the next morning after a hangover. It doesn’t work that way. There is no way to get Vedanta out of their ownership if they refuse to do so.
    How would you suggest HH GRZ handled this case, based on your arguments?

  8. Politics aside….We need to think about how we can develop Zambia and its starts with good and corrupt free leadership…HH has a history with the mines and no wonder he can’t declare his assets and how he became rich…with Vedanta HH has secured his retirement package and recovered all the money he has been losing elections for the past 20 years…and IMF tells us that we’re poor and Vedanta said he made $500 billion profit in Zambia within one year……@Spaka and TIKKI look what your Supreme leader HH is doing to Zambia

  9. @ DeJavu
    I think you are right Kabuswe is not normal…or he cant think properly now because Vedanta offered him to much money together with his boss HH….these guys are set for life

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