CEC to list on LuSE

Copperbelt Energy Co (CEC) plans to sell a 25 percent stake in an initial public offer (IPO) and will list on the Lusaka bourse in January, the Lusaka Stock Exchange said on Thursday.

Of the 25 percent stake in CEC, 5 percent would go to staff, the Lusaka Stock Exchange’s (LuSE) business development manager Brian Tembo said.

CEC said it wanted to raise funds for future expansion and boost share ownership by Zambians through the listing, which would bring the number of listed companies on the LuSE to 17.

Tembo said 5 percent of the offering would be sold to the public, 5 percent had been given to Africa Life Financial Services and 10 percent had been given to the NAPSA pension fund.

CEC said it planned to spend $40.5 million on infrastructure upgrades over the next seven years after signing two loan facilities with Citi Bank Zambia and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).

CEC would replace equipment installed nearly 50 years ago to a meet the 416 megawatts (MW) additional power demand from the mines it currently supplies with 550 MW, the firm said.

It said an expansion of power supply had become inevitable due to rising demand in the mines, which are carrying out major upgrades and developing new copper and cobalt mines.

CEC purchases power from state power utility Zesco Ltd and then distributes it to all the copper and cobalt mines.

CEC also operates the Zambia-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) interconnector, which it uses to import up to 310 megawatts of power for re-export to South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The Zambia Energy Corporation (Zam-En), a consortium of local and foreign businesses, owns 77 percent of CEC, 20 percent is held by state-run ZCCM-IH with the balance held by minority shareholders.