Nedbank Capital funds BEE consortium to acquire a shareholding in Spring Lights Gas

 

NEWSFLASH   24 April 2012   Nedbank Capital funds BEE consortium to acquire a shareholding in Spring Lights Gas   Nedbank Capital is pleased to announce it recently led a consortium of funders to enable a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) consortium led by Kwande Capital (Proprietary) Limited (Kwande Capital), together with Zungu Investments Company Proprietary Limited (Zico), to acquire a 51% shareholding in Spring Lights Gas (Propriety) Limited (SLG).   Nedbank Capital’s Leveraged Finance team acted as mandated lead arranger providing R250 million of senior debt funding, whilst it’s Private Equity team provided R104 million as the anchor mezzanine equity funder.   Clive Howell, head of Private Equity at Nedbank Capital says: “We are proud to have funded Kwande Capital in its majority acquisition of SLG. This transaction further demonstrates our commitment to providing funding in the clean-tech space as well as ultimately developing and growing the KZN economy.”     SLG is a prominent supplier of piped gas to industrial and commercial customers in Kwazulu Natal. It utilises a growing pipeline network that covers major industrial hubs in Durban, Newcastle and Richards Bay, and is focussed on growing this market beyond the current reach of existing gas infrastructure. SLG’s customer base includes some of the most prominent ‘blue-chip’ industrial companies in the country. SLG is considered as one of the most successful BEE ventures in South Africa's energy sector.   Kwande Capital is a 100% BEE owned and managed company with a primary focus on energy and FMCG investments. It is part of a group formed in 2004 to provide consulting services to the energy sector and trading of crude oil and liquids fuels. Its principals are Deon Dhlomo and Shakes Matiwaza. Zico is an established investment company chaired by founding member Sandile Zungu with interest in mining, automotive and services industries   Tshego Sefolo, MD of Zico says: We are pleased to have partnered with Kwande Capital in concluding an acquisition of one of the leading piped gas suppliers in SA.   Ends --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note to Editors:   Nedbank Capital is a cluster of investment banking businesses operating within the Nedbank Group, one of the four largest banking groups in South Africa. Nedbank Capital consists of a number of divisions that together manage the structuring, lending, underwriting and trading businesses. It provides a full product spectrum offering that stretches from equity research, to the provision of long-term project financing, enabling the business to compete effectively in the southern African market. It is based at the Group’s head office in Sandton, Johannesburg, with large operational centres in Durban and Cape Town, as well as offices in London, Toronto, Namibia and Angola.   Issued by Nedbank Group Communications Contact:  Joanne Isaacs                   Nedbank Group Communications                  +27 11 2958045/ 0788004989                   JoanneI@Nedbank.co.za

 

 

Water Affairs to review laws to boost services to poor

Cape Town - The Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, with assistance from the Department of Human Settlements, plans to review water and sanitation laws to ensure that more of these services reach the poor, says the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa.

Briefing the media in Cape Town on Monday on her department's turnaround strategy, Molewa said the allocation of water services to disadvantaged communities needed to be relooked at and needed to be backed by a clearer implementation strategy.

She said though the current legislation did emphasise equitable distribution of water and sanitation services to all South Africans, in reality this often did not happen.

Molewa pointed out that agriculture had been allocated 62% of the country's water supply, while only two to three percent had been set aside for households.

She said there was definitely a mismatch as households and factories, allocated 10% of water supplies, also needed more water to grow the country and make it more equitable.

Allocations needed to be freed up so that these sectors could get a more fair allocation, she suggested.

The National Water Act, Water Services Act and Water Research Act were also being reviewed and would be put through Parliament next year.

The department is also considering allowing its Water Tribunal to impose civil penalties for non-compliance.

While the existing 19 catchment management agencies would be consolidated into nine agencies and stakeholder relations strengthened, the number of water boards would also be reduced so as to promote those that were financially viable.

Many of the water boards facing high levels of debt were in areas with a high number of poor citizens and Molewa said the department had been helping some of the water boards to identify ways in which they could collect debt.

She said stronger water boards could help struggling municipalities to improve the delivery of water, which would lead to higher collections for water accounts.

The department's turnaround strategy was developed by a 13-member team appointed in July last year, following the Auditor General identifying challenges in his qualified opinion of the department. The team was involved in re-engineering many of the department's business processes.

Among the problem areas identified by the team, was the management of infrastructure, as some water treatment works are dysfunctional, while the maintenance backlog, including dams and reservoirs that needed repairs, currently stood at R15 billion.

To assist with funding new water infrastructure projects, Molewa said a ring-fenced agency would be created to finance water infrastructure.

A method for continued asset management had also been developed and 90% of assets had been captured by the department's accounting system, while all current leases were also being reviewed, she said.

To improve the management of leases, a quick-access application was being developed so that departmental officials could at a glance see details such as what stage leases were at and when it needed to be renewed.

The department's recruitment process was being overhauled to improve the time it takes to recruit candidates and the quality of those hired.

A number of senior management positions had been filled, including among others that of the Director General, an acting financial officer for the Water Trading Entity and a chief financial officer for the main account.

Only one senior management position still remained vacant.

To improve the IT system, a tender had been advertised on 8 April for the outsourcing of such an IT system, while an ongoing training programme for IT had also been developed. - BuaNews

World Bank president election process questioned

Johannesburg - As directors of the World Bank are set to meet later today to make a decision on who the body's next president will be, doubt in the transparency of the process has emerged.

Speaking to journalists at Foreign Correspondents' Association breakfast meeting in Johannesburg on Monday Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said the organisation has passed the test of openness in the sense that anybody could nominate anybody for the presidency.

"The second test that we will be judged by is how transparent has the process been. From what I'm hearing there's serious concerns about transparency," said Gordhan, also linking it to whether the process had been a merit-based one.

"I think we're going to find that the process falls short of that. The world will be waiting to see whether the World Bank has improved its legitimacy [and] has broadened its base of participation in the terms of the kinds of candidates it will entertain," explained the minister.

The comes as the 25 executive directors will gather in Washington, US to succeed outgoing president Robert Zoellick, whose term ends in June.

When nominations for the presidency opened it was initially a three-horse race with US-nominated Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American global health expert, Jose Antonio Ocampo, a professor at Columbia University who was nominated by Brazil and president of Dartmouth College and Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. She has been endorsed as a candidate of choice for the African continent.

Ocampo pulled out of the race on Friday.

It is expected that the job will go to a US candidate. Since its establishment in 1944, the presidency of the World Bank has always gone to a US candidate. 

Godrhan said it was necessary to look beyond "claims of democratic processes" and whether candidates have been given a fair chance.

South Africa has for years been calling on reforms in such global bodies.

Though there has been progress in ref

SA economy improving: Gordhan

Johannesburg - South Africa's economy is improving but is vulnerable to problems in the Eurozone, says Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

"Economic growth is reasonably stable," Gordhan said at the Foreign Correspondents Association breakfast meeting in Johannesburg on Monday.

"Like many other parts of the world, the economy is still subject to the vagaries of the global economy, in particular the European situation. From our point of view, we look forward to a far more clear set of actions coming from European countries that will give markets the certainty they require." 

Uncertainty, he said, damaged growth as well as employment prospects.

The minister's comments come ahead of the G20 meeting convening on Thursday and Friday, which is expected to address the European crisis where leaders will find out if they are any closer to a definitive answer on the matter.

It is also expected to look into whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has adequate resources and if it requires additional funds.

Globally, the world is moving towards multi-polarity where traditional methods of growth are not operational. "We are living in epoch-changing shifts in the economy, they don't happen overnight nor can they be judged over a short period. These are shifts that are reflected in the way in which global growth is being distributed," said Gordhan.

"We are now in a multi-polar world of transition. Multi-polarity is where we are heading. It shouldn't be seen as this enforced historical change that we have to live with but rather as a vital necessity to ensure that global growth is restored ."

On the decision by rating agencies to place South Africa on a negative watch, Gordhan said comments made by the agencies were "unfortunate".

"Some of the concerns by agencies seem to be an unfortunate casting of European shadows on the South African scene and there is nothing to suggest in the numbers or policy pronouncement that this government has made to justify the kind of doubts that rating agencies are placing on South Africa." 

There were, however, social demands to better deliver resources. Gordhan said this was not driven by demands for more money to be spent but rather for money to be better spent and less subject to corruption, a matter which government was attending to.

"We want to build up a 10-year fiscal framework, which will tell us what we can afford and how we need to grow the economy to overcome challenges," said the minister.

South Africa is working to improve growth with its infrastructure programme that was recently announced, as well as with the competitive programme for the industrial sector, support for emerging farmers, investment in science and technology as well as employment expansion - particularly for the youth, for whom processes in this regard [for youth employment] were "taking too long".

"There are immense opportunities on the continent," said Gordhan. 

On the issue of reducing unemployment, Gordhan said this ambition depended on the extent of economic growth, labour absorption as well as greater investment in industries that have a larger capability to employ people, among others.

"I admit [we are] not easily going to meet some of the targets we set but I'm hopeful that some of the programmes we put in place might begin to change the picture. If we can get the global economy to settle down and get back to a growth path, we might see a different picture in about five years."

South Africa aims to create five million jobs by 2020. Gordhan said more needed to be done, adding that 70 percent of the job creation target must come from the private sector. 

The minister stressed that incentives for business to create jobs were available, and that far more "urgent discussion" was needed in this regard. - BuaNews