[miningmx.com] — ARCELORMITTAL SA, the local arm of the world’s largest steel maker, has canned its acquisition of Imperial Crown Trading (ICT) for R800m.
The company on Thursday clarified that an agreement between its wholly-owned subsidiary OPCO and ICT, relating to the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of ICT, had lapsed.
ICT’s sole asset is a prospecting right in relation to a 21.4% share of the Sishen iron ore mining area.
Amsa said the proposed acquisition was subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions precedent and on August 12 the agreement lapsed without all the conditions being fulfilled.
When the deal was announced last year, Amsa said one of the conditions of the acquisition was that ICT retain the right over Sishen.
The awarding of the prospecting right to ICT is still being questioned in court.
Amsa’s statement follows market uncertainty over whether it would go ahead with the ICT acquisition after its R9.1bn black economic empowerment deal, which involved some of the ICT directors, fell through.
They included Duduzane Zuma, a son of President Jacob Zuma, and members of the Gupta familly.
