Kuvimba Deal The Best Ever For Ziscosteel, Says Board Chair
ZICOSTEEL board chair Martin Manuhwa says Kuvimba Mining House’s undertaking to revive Ziscosteel is the best deal the former steel-making company has had.
Kuvimba, linked to tycoon Kuda Tagwirei, is set to inject about US$1 billion towards the resuscitation of Ziscosteel over a three year period.
The former integrated steelworks giant closed shop nearly two decades as a result of poor administration and corrupttion.
“We are happy that the Kuvimba deal in general is not taking any equity and it has a sunset clause that comes after three and a half years when the contract would have lapsed,” Manuhwa said.
“After their exit, the whole strategy is to make sure that Zisco’s balance sheet is strong enough for us to rebuild our steel plant and go back to our glory days.”
Ziscosteel board chairman Martin Manuhwa
Manuhwa said the deal was going to leave them in a position to negotiate with investors from a strong position as compared to their historical, desperate hunt for investors.
“This is also good for us to be strong enough to attract other investors as a very strong entity, if we had done that at this very moment it was not going to be a win-win situation because the investor would have brought everything and once one brings everything they can also take everything,” he said.