Harmony Gold, a leading gold mining company, has announced two significant transactions aimed at promoting broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) within its operations. These proposals include issuing convertible preference shares to the Harmony Community Trust and ordinary shares to the Harmony Sisonke employee stock ownership plan (Esop) Trust.
The Harmony Community Trust share issuance is a crucial component of Harmony’s wider BBBEE initiatives, while the Esop Trust share issuance targets the benefit of eligible employees. “Our employees and host communities are fundamental to our success,” stated Harmony CEO Peter Steenkamp on December 11. “We are committed to shared value and partnership to grow our business and develop thriving communities. This is mining with a purpose.”
These proposed BBBEE transactions follow Harmony’s strategic acquisition of AngloGold Ashanti’s South African assets, including Mponeng and related assets, in 2020. Harmony highlighted that this move is in line with its merger and acquisition criteria, building on its existing assets, stakeholder relationships, and experience gained from the Moab Khotsong mine acquisition in 2018.
The Harmony Community Trust and the Sisonke Esop Trust, established in 2018, manage benefits for communities and an employee share ownership plan, respectively. The issuance of additional shares to these trusts aligns with Harmony’s commitment to ensuring meaningful participation by historically disadvantaged South Africans in the mining sector.
According to a report by Mining Weekly, Harmony plans to issue approximately 2.4 million preference shares to the Harmony Community Trust and 12.7 million ordinary shares to the Esop Trust. Post-transaction, the Harmony Community Trust will hold over 6.8 million preference shares, representing about 0.4% of the issued ordinary shares upon conversion. In contrast, the Esop Trust will own over 12.6 million ordinary shares, equating to about 2% of the total issued ordinary shares.
