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BusinessLive reports that Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman told the Competition Tribunal at the hearing on Tuesday of the company’s proposed merger with Lonmin that consolidation was the “bitter medicine” the SA platinum industry needed if it was to be saved.
The deal would breathe new life into the financially distressed Lonmin, which has already commenced its restructuring and which will result in 12,459 job losses. Sibanye-Stillwater’s takeover would bring that number to 13,344, the merging parties said. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), however, claimed that bad management was the source of Lonmin’s ills and an improving outlook of the platinum price could see it recover very soon. Amcu, in its submission to the tribunal, said that not only had Sibanye refused to commit any capital investments in Lonmin as part of the merger, but its involvement also caused the number of job cuts at Lonmin to rise, although the merging parties refuted this. But Froneman said he believed Lonmin was well run. Ultimately the SA platinum sector needed to go the way of the gold sector where taking down farm boundaries and entering into sensible consolidation had saved many jobs, he said.
- Read the full original of the report by Lisa Steyn at BusinessLive
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