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Mozambique, South Africa pre-empt

Sasol’s planned sale of ROMPCO stake

MOZAMBIQUE/S. AFRICA THE governments of Mozambique and South Estevao Pale, the CEO of ENH, said that the
Africa have decided to pre-empt the planned deal would benefit Mozambique. “The fact that
sale of a minority stake in the Republic of both governments are majority shareholders
Mozambique Pipeline Company (ROMPCO) in the cross-border pipeline is strategic, as the
by Sasol (South Africa). pipeline is the only source of gas for the South
Sasol reported last month that one of its sub- African market,” he said.
sidiaries, Sasol South Africa (SSA), had signed a Meanwhile, Ishmael Poolo, the CEO of CEF,
sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with a con- commented: “There has been a concerted effort
sortium set up by Reatile Group, a black-owned to accelerate the acquisition of these shares,
investment firm, and the IDEAS Fund, a domes- which is a hallmark of the group’s energy value
tic infrastructure fund managed by African chain investment strategy aimed at reviving the
Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM). South African economy and creating the jobs we
The document provided for SSA to reduce its so badly need.”
stake in ROMPCO, the owner of an 865-km nat- ROMPCO pumps gas from Pande and
ural gas pipeline connecting Mozambique and Temane, two fields in southern Mozambique, to
South Africa, from 50% to 20%, it said. South Africa. Sasol decided to reduce its stake in
Now, though, the agreement is being over- the pipeline company in order to raise cash that
turned, as Mozambique’s national oil company could be used to pay off debts. ™
(NOC) ENH and South Africa’s Central Energy
Fund (CEF) are exercising their right to pre-
empt the sale. They will presumably be buying
the stake at the same price specified in the SPA
– namely, an up-front payment of ZAR4.145bn
($291mn) and a deferred payment of ZAR1bn,
assuming that the group meets certain mile-
stones by June 30, 2024.
ENH and CEF are already shareholders in
ROMPCO, holding 25% each through affiliates
– namely Companhia Mocambiçana de Gas-
oduto (CMG) and South African Gas Develop-
ment Co. (SOC) Ltd, also known as iGas. Their
holdings will rise to 40% each following the
acquisition of SSA’s 30% stake, since they intend
to split the asset evenly. ROMPCO operates the Mozambique-South Africa gas pipeline (Image: iGas)

INVESTMENT
GASCO secures $200mn syndicated loan

from eight-member banking consortium

EGYPT A group of eight banks led by the National Bank Desert Gas Complex located in Amriya near
of Egypt have arranged a syndicated loan worth Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, the
EGP3.1bn ($200mn) for state-owned Egyptian newspaper said.
Natural Gas Company (GASCO), the natural The loan consortium includes Banque Misr,
gas company, according to Al Mal, a daily finan- Banque du Caire, Commercial International
cial paper. Bank, QNB Al Ahli, the Arab African Interna-
GASCO plans to use the loan proceeds to tional Bank and Bank Audi. Each bank will con-
finance an expansion project at its Western tribute $25mn towards the total loan amount.

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