Good day.
Old Mutual Plc (OML) said it reached an agreement with Zimbabwe’s government about how the insurer will comply with a law to sell a majority stake in its local operations to black Zimbabweans.
“We have reached a deal and we feel this is a sensible one,” Ralph Mupita, Old Mutual’s Chief Executive of Life and Savings, said in an interview in Harare, the capital, today. “It’s a broad-based proposal we have put forward and this is something we are happy with.”
The southern African nation’s government have asked foreign companies to submit plans on how they will meet a law to sell 51 percent of local assets to black citizens. The law is focused on mining and financial services companies in a country with the world’s second-biggest reserves of platinum and chrome.
Old Mutual’s Zimbabwe unit will cede 25 percent of its assets through grants and shares to pensioners, staff, partner companies and a youth fund, Empowerment and Indigenization Minister Saviour Kasukuwere told reporters in Harare.
The company will also support a state agriculture fund and help fund housing projects, while agreeing to invest $20 million in its local operations, Kasukuwere said. The agreement will be reviewed in November, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Godfrey Marawanyika in Johannesburg atgmarawanyika@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
