Sasol explains how it will do things differently for investors

Sasol has explained how its new Sasol Khanyisa investment scheme is different to the Sasol Inzalo one – the latter described by some investors as “a fong kong vehicle with a BMW sticker”.

Sasol Inzalo left investors with shares that nobody wanted to buy after 10 years.

The company said the most noticeable difference was that Sasol Khanyisa created ownership in Sasol South Africa (Pty) Ltd. “This significantly reduces risks associated with share price fluctuations as was the case with Sasol Inzalo‚” the company told TimesLive.

It highlighted the key differences between Sasol Inzalo and Sasol Khanyisa as being:

• Sasol South Africa will be well-placed to achieve at least 25% black ownership (direct and indirect holding).
• Most of the dividend declared by Sasol South Africa will be used to repay the funding cost‚ with the intention being to repay the vendor finance (provided by Sasol) as fast as possible.
• Once the funding is settled at the end of the 10-year period (or sooner) Sasol South Africa shares will be exchanged for Sasol BEE Ordinary (Solbe1) shares‚ listed on the empowerment segment of the JSE. Solbe1 shares are the same as a Sasol ordinary shares except only black South Africans can own these.
• Shareholders may decide to retain their shares and earn dividends‚ or they can choose to trade them. The JSE’s Empowerment Segment allows participants to buy and sell shares in a transparent and regulated environment‚ specially tailored to the unique requirements of BEE share schemes‚ said Sasol.

Sasol Khanyisa will increase the number of Solbe1 shares when it matures‚ trading which should contribute to improved liquidity over the longer term.

Investors who put their money in Sasol’s Inzalo shares are banding together over the R30-billion Black Economic Empowerment scheme they likened to “a fong kong vehicle with a BMW sticker”.

Investors who bought into the scheme in 2008 to score a stake in one of the country’s most successful companies are now crying foul as their hopes have been dashed by market forces.

Frustrated investors have started a Facebook group called “Sasol Inzalo robbed us”. They feel that the company has let them down and failed to achieve its BEE objective through the transaction. At the end of the 10 years‚ they were left with shares that nobody wanted to buy and felt they had been cheated.

Sasol‚ however‚ said it had refinanced the deal at no cost to the original investors with a new offering it hoped would bring hard cash to more than 200 000 black shareholders.

Sasol is planning to meet Dale Chetty‚ a member of the Facebook group‚ to address investors’ concerns.