ABN Business Briefs

Posted Fri, 20 Jan 2012

Exxaro Bid Accepted
African Iron's directors have accepted Exxaro's $338 million takeover offer. The board has unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the bid. The offer will remain open until the 14th of February.

Altech COO Resigns
Jeffrey Hedberg has resigned as Chief Operating Officer of Allied Technologies. This will be effective from the end of January. Altech's CEO Craig Venter will shoulder Hedberg's responsibilities.

Nigeria Fuel
Nigeria has discovered a discrepancy of more than $4 billion a year between the amount of motor fuel it subsidises and actual consumption. This comes after the government abruptly removed the subsidy, and strikes and protests by trade unions and civil society forced them to reinstate part of it. The latest information is likely to further stoke the debate over the fuel subsidy, which economists said benefits wealthy fuel importers and smugglers more than ordinary Nigerians.

Libya Oil
Libya's National Oil Corporation has issued a tender to buy gasoil, fuel oil and liquefied petroleum gas for delivery in February. Meanwhile, prior negotiations for the supply of up to 3 million tonnes each of gasoil, gasoline and fuel oil in 2012 are still underway. Plans to restart Libya's largest refinery have been pushed back repeatedly. Recently, Libya's NOC said that the plant would resume operating around March, while the latest estimate by its joint venture partner was that processing would resume "within months".