De Beers to sell 26 percent of South African unit to blacks

De Beers, the world's biggest diamond producer, will sell 26 percent of its South African unit to a new black-owned firm for about 3.8 billion rand ($567 million) to meet government demands to include more blacks in the mainstream economy.
De Beers, previously criticised by government officials for not having enough black managers, said in a statement on Tuesday that half of the new firm, Ponahalo Holdings, would be owned by employees and pensioners and the other 50 percent by a black-led investment firm.
Ponahalo, in addition to owning part of De Beers, was set up to stimulate economic activity in mining areas.
"The ambition is not simply to do some tokenism. This is to create real, sustainable jobs and businesses targeted principally at the communities around De Beers' operations," Jonathan Oppenheimer, current head of the local unit, told Reuters.
De Beers said it expected the plan would meet the requirements of South Africa's mining charter, under which firms must transfer 15 percent ownership of their local assets to blacks within five years and 26 percent within 10 years.
The government's black-empowerment programme, which seeks to redress the exclusion of blacks during apartheid, also calls for more blacks in management positions.
The chairman of Ponahalo, Manne Dipico, a former premier of the Northern Cape province, will become deputy chairman of the company's South African unit, De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM).
One diamond analyst said the deal was positive as it had included De Beers employees and pensioners.
"It is a reasonable deal; it seems to be empowering employees and pensioners and could build a good team spirit," said the analyst, who did not wish to be named.
De Beers, 45 percent owned by mining giant Anglo American, said the sale of the stake in DBCM to Ponahalo would be financed by equity from certain shareholders, third-party financing and vendor finance from De Beers.
Financing details will be arranged before the deal is finalised, hopefully by the end of the year, Oppenheimer said.
Ponahalo will also expand its business by making investments outside De Beers with the 10 million rand per year of dividend income it receives from DBCM.