OAKBAY Resources & Energy said there was currently no deal in place to sell the export rights of Optimum Coal, the South African coal mine that was bought for R2.15bn out of business rescue earlier this year.
Vitol declined to comment on the matter whilst RBCT chairman, Mike Teke, said he had no knowledge of the transaction.
“I can only repeat what the CEO of Oakbay Investments said today: and that is there is no deal in front of us,” said Jacques Roux, CEO of Oakbay Resources & Energy. “That is not saying there won’t be a deal in the future,” he added.
Oakbay Resources & Energy is a Johannesburg-listed firm in which Oakbay Investments has a 79,99% stake. Optimum Coal was bought through another of Oakbay Investments’ companies, the 29%-owned Tegeta Energy & Exploration.
Roux declined to take further questions on the export entitlement issue, but said there may be further updates on the matter in the future.
The issue of selling the entitlement is complicated by a pre-emptive right that is thought to be held by RBCT shareholders who are, it is understood, resistant to having a company such as Vitol as a shareholder.
Oakbay Investments said earlier today that coal exports were one of three pillars on which it based its business growth ambitions. Roux said he hoped his company could sell between six to seven million tonnes a year of coal on through exports in the future.
