By NATION REPORTER
THE ZCCM-IH minority shareholders have complained of lack of transparency in the KMP royalty deal in which critical documents and clauses with references to the calculation of royalty in the agreements have either been hidden or concealed.
And Emmanuel Mwamba says details of the deal between First Quantum Minerals and ZCCM-IH conversion of shares from dividend to royalty payment in Kansanshi Copper and Gold Mine have been hidden.
The ZCCM-IH minority shareholders are raising question to the intentions by the ZCCM-IH to hide information about the royalty dividends which could make them (minority shareholders) to vote in an informed manner.
An agreement was reached at the extraordinary general meeting between the ZCCM-IH minority shareholders and First Quantum Minerals at which it was agreed to convert the KMP dividends into royalty but the documents have not been availed to the minority shareholders for unexplained reasons.
Thierry Charles, the spokesperson for the Minority Shareholders of the ZCCM-IH says an extraordinary general meeting to validate the agreement with Frist Quantum Minerals was held at the end of the month of March, 2023 at which it was agreed to convert KMP dividends into royalty on account that the ZCCM-IM was directly owned 92.6 percent shares.
Mr Charles the total lack of transparency and the desire to keep information from minority shareholders after the deal had been announced was raising questions on the intension of the concealment. Mr Charles disclosed that the circular after the extraordinary general meeting had approved the regulatory bodies including the Security Exchange Commission and the Lusaka Stock Exchange (Luse) had stipulated a number of documents to be made available to all shareholders but that the documents had since been hidden.
“Before the exraodinary general meeting, as foreseen in the circular to the shareholders, we asked ZCCM-IH to provide with us access to the documents, which were intended to clarify, in particular, the references considered for the calculation of the amount of the royalty and the clauses of the agreements. We received only a deafening silence despite several reminders.”
“This total lack of transparency and the desire to keep this information hidden raise questions. This concealment comes at a time when the announcement of this deal had raised questions or even suspicion in Zambia, even though the Zambian authorities were touting the agreement and the benefits for the country,” Mr Charles said.
Mr Charles stated that faced with the concealment of the documents and failings on the part of the ZCCM-IH, the minority shareholders had applied to regulatory bodies, the SEC and Luse but had neither received any response over the matter.
And Mr Mwamba has said the total lack of transparency and the desire to keep this information hidden raises questions. Mr Mwamba said this concealment came at a time when the announcement of this deal had raised questions or even suspicions in Zambia, even though the Zambian authorities were touting the agreement and the benefits for the country.
Mr Mwamba said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the regulator of the Capital Markets in Zambia and Lusaka Stock Exchange ordered the parties to disclose a set of documents that was NOT done at the time of the Extra-Ordinary General Meeting.
“When Carlisa Investments, a subsidiary of Glencore and First Quantum Minerals, sold their 90% stake in Mopani Copper Mines to ZCCM-IH at a ridiculous price of $1.5billion buy-out, the minority shareholders of ZCCM-IH were denied access to key documents regarding the take-over,” he said.
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