Zimbabwe Extends Deadline for Proposals on Black Ownership Law
May 18, 2010, 8:22 AM EDT
By Brian Latham
May 18 (Bloomberg) — Zimbabwe’s government extended by a month a deadline by which all businesses must submit plans on increasing black ownership, Indigenization and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said.
Under a law signed in March, companies had until the end of May to show how they would ensure that 51 percent of their equity was held by black Zimbabweans. The deadline was extended until June 30, Kasukuwere said in a phone interview today from Harare, the capital.
Zimbabwe’s Indigenization and Empowerment Act compels all foreign and white-owned companies to sell 51 percent of their shareholdings to black Zimbabweans within five years.
The law applies to companies with assets of more than $500,000. If enforced, it may affect lenders including London- based Standard Chartered Plc, Barclays Bank Plc and Standard Bank Group Ltd. and mining companies such as Anglo American Plc.