Staff Reporter
PRETORIA Portland Cement (PPC) has said the transfer of its shares from the Zimbabwe bourse to the Johan-nesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) has only received conditional approval from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
The company was therefore working to resolve outstanding issues, an announcement said.
“A formal announcement would be made once the conditions have been resolved,” said PPC in a statement sponsored by Merrill Lynch South Africa.
PPC had applied for its shares currently listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) to become fully transferable between the ZSE and the JSE.
Previously the company`s shares were only transferable from the JSE to the ZSE, not in reverse.
“The company has received conditional approval in this regard from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe,” said PPC.
“Shareholders are advised that some restrictions on share transfers from the ZSE to the JSE are likely to remain and they should exercise caution when dealing in the ZSE listed securities of the company until a further announcement is made,” said PPC.
Reports had last week suggested that PPC shares had been granted full fungibility, implying that the PPC shares bought from the ZSE could be moved to the JSE without restrictions.
Currently, only 40 percent of PPC stock on the ZSE is eligible for transfer to the JSE, while the transfer of shares from the JSE to the ZSE is without restriction.
Share fungibility allows investors to arbitrage dual-listed stocks, thus narrowing of the price discrepancies that may exist across exchanges.
PPC is the leading supplier of cement in southern Africa, with eight manufacturing facilities and three milling depots in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. These facilities are capable of producing more than seven million tonnes of cement products each year.
The company has a distribution network that is responsible for supplying quality branded cement to the building and construction industry, concrete product manufacturers, hardware stores and DIY centres.
The company’s cementitious brands include the market-leading Surebuild brand in South Africa, Botcem in Botswana and Unicem, which produces cement at the Bulawayo factory.
Besides cement, the Zimbabwean subsidiary also produces lime and concrete products at Bulawayo and Colleen Baun.
PPC reintegrated results from its Zimbabwean subsidiary into its books only last year after the country adopted a hard currency regime, giving the parent firm effective control of the local operation.
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