JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner Exxaro on Friday said its majority black economic-empowerment shareholder consortium Mainstreet 333 (MS333) had secured a R700-million guarantee from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).
In July, Exxaro said it would provide MS333 a R400-million loan to repay a portion of a refinanced preference share facility to ensure continued majority black ownership and control of Exxaro is maintained to the end of 2016, when MS333 was free to dispose of its stake in the mining company.
MS333 requested the interim loan to comply with a 2013 refinanced R3.8-billion preference share facility that was initially raised in 2006 to buy MS333’s 52.09% interest in Exxaro.
The IDC guarantee and Exxaro loan provided a substantial buffer against any further default of the Preference Share Facility, with a portion of the facility now converted into a subordinated loan against the security of the IDC guarantee.