The UAE’s International Resources Holding (IRH) has withdrawn its bid to buy a stake in Zambia’s Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) after talks with the mine’s majority owner, Vedanta Resources Ltd, collapsed.
According to Mining.com, quoting Reuters, IRH said today that talks collapsed because of a failure to agree on the assets’ value.
IRH had reportedly offered to buy a 51% stake in KCM for more than US$1 billion, although Vedanta indicated it was not selling a majority.
IRH has now told Reuters it was “not currently pursuing the acquisition of a majority stake in the Zambian assets”.
“IRH terminated the transaction discussions two months ago due to discrepancies in valuation,” it added in an emailed statement.
Chris Griffith, the CEO of Vedanta Base Metals, told Reuters in June that IRH was among the investors conducting due diligence on the Zambian assets.
IRH offered about US$1 billion for a 51% stake in KCM, but Vedanta was only willing to sell a minority equity stake of about 30% for almost double the amount IRH offered for a larger interest, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The source declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
In September 2023, Vedanta regained control of KCM after a five-year battle to recover the copper mines and smelter that were seized by the Patriotic Front administration of former president Edgar Lungu after it accused the company of not delivering on its undertakings, including failing to invest in expanding copper production.
Vedanta has been trying to sell a stake in KCM to raise about US$1.2 billion, which is required to settle debts, revive operations, and invest in advancing the Konkola Deep Mining Project, which holds one of the richest copper deposits in the world.
