Vedanta will claim ZCI shares

This on Mining Weekly today. It's bound to generate plenty of angry messages from ZCI shareholders. I wonder if the timing was designed to co-incide with the bigger storm over tax, and I don't know if that's too conspiratorial.

ZCI said on Thursday that Vedanta Resources had accepted the independent investment bank’s valuation of the 28,4% of Konkola Copper Mines shares held by ZCI, valued at $213,15-million, and that the call option process was, accordingly, finalised.

In terms of the provisions of the call option deed, Vedanta has indicated that it intended to effect payment of the valuation price to ZCI by no later than February 20, where after ZCI would instruct KCM to effect transfer of the shares to Vedanta.

The dispute arose over a call option that determine that the 28,4% of KCM held by ZCI was to be valued as at the date on which the call option was exercised by Vedanta, which was August 12, 2005. The long-running dispute ended in arbitration last June, when a “material difference of opinion” arose.

ZCI said that it would shortly present shareholders with their proposals for the future of the company, which would determine whether the company should be wounded up and its assets distributed to shareholders, or whether it should continue as an investment or operating vehicle.

It would also determine the nature of such amended focus, or whether a portion of the ZCI’s assets be distributed to shareholders by way of dividend or share buy-back and thereafter continue business as an investment or operating vehicle, should the assets remaining after distribution/buy-back allow for a viable business case.