Liquidator to market BCL after court�s ruling
Chakalisa Dube | Friday January 27, 2017 15:25
Dixon-Warren said this following remarks made by the Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) that there has been poor marketing of the mine.
“Once the companies are placed into final liquidation and the first meeting of creditors is held, it is at that time that the creditors will instruct the liquidator to proceed with the disposal of assets,” Dixon-Warren told BusinessWeek.
“It is at that point that the liquidator will actively market the assets to prospective buyers. In the meantime interested parties are making contact with my office and I am briefing them on the process and most are willing to await the process as prescribed,” he added,.
In an interview, BMWU president Jack Tlhagale noted that officials from the union late last year attended the ‘Mines and Money’ conference in London and noticed that many investors did not have enough knowledge about the potential sale of BCL.
With a 13-year-old history the conference is regarded as Europe’s largest mining investment conference and exhibition bringing together over 2,500 attendees from 75 countries.
Senior executives of nearly 150 mining companies attend the four-day annual gathering for learning, networking and deal making.
Tlhagale said the liquidator or government should capatilise on major mining events to market the mine.
“At the conference it was clear that BCL was not being marketed.
We believe that had the BCL group been marketed before it was placed under provisional liquidation, it could have attracted suitors hence preventing many job losses. Months before the liquidation, it was clear that the government wanted out of the BCL Group,” he said. Tlhagale said at the conference the union leadership also marketed BCL group to companies that had attended the conference.
“There was a lot of interest and we hope that the investors will follow up. We have a long list of those investors who we approached but we cannot name them now.”
Tlhagale also differed with Warren-Dixon’s stance that the mine would be marketed vigorously after final liquidation has been granted.
“If there is no ample time to market the mine we may reach a crisis stage where the assets of the mine are sold as piecemeal depending on the bidding amount from buyers.
If the assets are sold as a piecemeal in the form of an auction there is even no guarantee that the mine will re-open,” Tlhagale said.
He said the union would continue to market BCL to potential investors through international gatherings that the union leadership usually attend.
“It is in our interest to see the right investor buying BCL to create more jobs,” he said.