Over 70 firms eye BCL assets
Onalenna Kelebeile | Tuesday August 8, 2017 18:00
Provisional liquidator Nigel Dixon-Warren, who can only be confirmed as final liquidator by the creditors at their next meeting, said there has been positive response from interested parties on BCL as evidenced by a lot of enquiries coming in.
“Over 70 companies have expressed interest. We will do background checks on potential buyers when it comes to the due diligence exercise,” he said.
Investors had up to August 7 (yesterday) to express interest. In a bid to assist interested investors with information, Dixon-Warren said a data room opened yesterday, following which an indicative offer should be submitted by September 1, 2017.
Shortlisted investors will then be invited to conduct due diligence on site. “Whilst preference will be given to parties interested in the BCL group as a whole, parties who are interested in certain constituent assets are invited to submit offers in line with their interest,” said Dixon-Warren. The BCL Mine assets comprise four underground shafts, a concentrator and a 900 kilo-tonne per annum (ktpa) flash smelting furnace.In addition to its mining and processing assets, BCL assets include about 2,000 residential properties and related infrastructure including a hospital and a farm.
He said after the due diligence on site, potential buyers will submit a final buying offer and once a solid offer has been agreed upon then recommendation, approval and implementation will be submitted.
He could not disclose any information on potential buyers, but said September 1 is the deadline in which offers must have been submitted for assessment. “We will then have to reassess our strategies and disposal process to satisfy ourselves with buyers’ financial and technical capacity among others. So offers must be detailed. All these will be done in conjunction with government who will be issuing licences,” he said.
The provisional liquidator also said the Tati Nickel could open before the smelter and said it remained under provisional liquidation because it (Tati Nickel) has generated enough interest immediately after it became clear that EIH was not going to make any offer within agreed timelines.
“I now have to come up with a process in which those who are interested in Tat Nickel could fit in and I will ensure that I cover the whole world in marketing the two mines, BCL and Tati Nickel,” he added.
Dixon-Warren further added that he is taking actions under the law to recover all the debts owed to BCL and this include the nickel refinery in Zimbabwe that owes BCL millions of pulas. Meanwhile, the liquidator said the mine’s security is working in conjunction with the police to monitor vandalism of the mine property.
He said there are cases in which property like air conditioners and geysers are stolen from mine houses but said some are just removed for storage.