Business week ending January 10

The IPO was at a price of $24 927 and will close on 25 January. Listing is expected on 22 February 2008. The number of shares in issue after the offer will be 4,042,857,142.
A market capitalisation at issue price will be $10 trillion while that of the offer will be $20 trillion IPO costs are expected to take up $1 trillion of IPO proceeds.
It would have been prudent to come out to the public canvassing for support given that relatively more attractive IPOs of Pearl and ZPI were undersubscribed.
However the market has less information about  ZECO’s business model and no order book was indicated save to say it is hoped the company will take advantage of the 2010 construction boom.2) ZESA Holdings has further reduced its debt to Mozambican power firms by US$7 million, bringing to US$35 million the amount it has paid to Hidroelectrica de Mocambique and Electrica de Mocambique inside one and a half months.
In November last year, Zesa paid a total of US$28 million it owed the power firms in the neighbouring country for electricity imports to Zimbabwe.
I can confirm that we paid another US$7 million two days ago and we are negotiating with them to increase power exports to Zimbabwe, Zesa chief executive Engineer Ben Rafemoyo said.
They were negotiating for 300 megawatts. Zimbabwe is currently importing 75MW from Mozambique.
Apart from Mozambique, Zimbabwe imports electricity from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo
South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, cut electricity exports to Zimbabwe owing to recurrent breakdowns at its power stations.
Zimbabwe generates power at Kariba South Hydro-Electricity Plant and Hwange Thermal Power Station.
Kariba produces 750MW when operating at full throttle and Hwange generates about 900MW. However, due to recurrent breakdowns and coal shortages, Hwange is producing less than 250MW.
Unit number three of Hwange Power Station is currently under refurbishment under the US$50 million inter-utility deal between Zesa Holdings and NamPower, Namibia’s sole electricity supplier.3) THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has extended the period of curatorship for Trust Bank and Royal Bank for a further six months.
The bank said the extension was to allow appeals lodged before the Administrative Court to be attended to. The extension will also see the institutions retaining the current curators until June this year.
In a statement the Reserve bank said: Take notice that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe hereby extends the period of curatorship for Royal Bank Zimbabwe Ltd and Trust Bank Corporation Ltd from December 31, 2007 to June 30, 2008.
At the same time, the Reserve Bank has extended the appointment of the curators to the same date, the bank said. Royal and Trust were placed under curatorship in 2004.
In 2006, shareholders lodged appeals with the Administrative Court citing inappropriate actions taken by their curators and the Registrar of Banking Institutions’ intention to cancel the registration of the banks.
The amalgamation into Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group is also a point of contention with both entities awaiting determination of their respective lawsuits. 4) GOLD swept to a 28-year high last week on Wednesday driven by surging oil, a weaker dollar and simmering geopolitical tension, making a test of record highs at $850 an ounce a real possibility on the first business day of 2008.
Other metals jumped on bullion’s bandwagon with platinum closing in on a record $1,542 an ounce, silver hitting a five-week high and palladium at its best in six weeks.
Spot gold surged to $US848,60 an ounce its highest since January 1980 when gold prices were fixed at a record $850.
The fundamentals are very strong for gold there’s no doubt about it, said David Thurtell, metals analyst at BNP Paribas.
Certainly the safe-haven bid, weaker dollar and credit market turmoil has been favourable for gold, and oil hitting $97 is not doing it any disservice, he added.
Gold gained more than 30% in 2007, in its biggest annual gain since 1979.
The euro was up half a percent on the day versus the dollar
with investors betting that upcoming U.S. economic news might be weak enough to confirm a need for more U.S. interest rate cuts.
The market awaited the release of the U.S. Institute for Supply Management index for December, a key gauge of U.S. economic performance, due at 1500 GMT, for clearer direction.
Investors also will study minutes of the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting, when it decided to cut its funds rate by 25 basis points.5) FORMER NMB Bank deputy managing director James Mushore, who is accused of flouting exchange control regulations on six occasions and breaching immigration laws, last week Thursday (JANUARY 3) filed a notice to apply for relaxation of his bail conditions with the magistrates’ court.
Mushore’s lawyer Innocent Chagonda of Artherstone and Cook Legal Practitioners also told the Harare Regional Court that the defence would also seek Mushore’s change of address citing water problems at his given address.
The defence said the poor conditions at Mushore’s Glen Lorne house, where he was ordered by the court to reside until the finalisation of the matter, were pressing him to move to a better place.
The defence also briefly indicated that reporting thrice a week to the police was too much for Mushore and they were seeking relaxation of the conditions.
Mushore, who was released on $100 million bail by the High Court in October last year, was ordered to report at CID Serious Frauds Section on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays every week.
He was told to continue residing at house number 27 Wepleton Avenue in Glen Lorne until the matter was completed and to surrender title deeds to the house.
The High Court also warned Mushore against interfering with State witnesses and investigations. Mushore is being accused of instructing his subordinates at NMB to transfer US$2 460 470, R3 million, 30 000 euros, £285 000 and 800 pula to a London bank without the approval of the central bank.
The State further alleges that Mushore illegally dealt in foreign currency amounting to £2 861 864,28 and US$216 524,20. He is also facing charges of leaving the country through an undesignated point in Kariba without using a passport.6) FIXED tele communication services provider Telone is set to link Alaska mine and surrounding areas near Chinhoyi with the rest of the country several months after the area was cut off from communication links following theft and vandalism of infrastructure.
Telone Public Relations Executive Phil Chingwaru said the company will recover an aerial distribution cable from Rafingora and replace the one stolen from Alaska.
He however warned that should the cables be stolen again subscribers will have to wait for the putting in place of the coded division multiple access system which operates on the lines of radio communication systems.
The aerial distribution cable linking Alaska to the fixed tele communication net work was stolen about three to four times in recent years, he said.
Chingwaru added that a permanent solution to the provision of communication services in Alaska, lions den and shackleton area lies in the establishment of the coded division multiple assess system which is not prone to vandalism.