JOHANNESBURG--South Africa's competition tribunal approved a
takeover of Optimum Coal Holdings Ltd. (OPT.JO) by a consortium
comprised of Glencore International PLC (GLEN.LN) and Shanduka
Coal, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The next step is for Glencore to make a mandatory offer which
could be wrapped up between April and May this year, that person
said. Optimum said in a February regulatory filing that the
consoritium had confirmed its intention to make a mandatory offer
for the remaining shares in Optimum once it had received regulatory
approval.
Glencore said in its results in May that it had acquired a 31.2%
interest in Optimum Coal for $382 million. By November it had
accrued or entered into conditional agreements to own a total
effective interest of 65.14% in Optimum.
Optimum Coal is South Africa's sixth-largest coal producer and
the fourth-largest exporter. It sold 10.6 million metric tons of
coal in fiscal year 2010, of which 52% was sold to South Africa's
state-owned Eskom Holdings and the remainder was exported.
-Devon Maylie, Dow Jones Newswires, +44 (0)207 842 9328,
devon.maylie@dowjones.com
--Alex MacDonald in London contributed to this story.