Briefing editors last week, MDCB executives said the investment firm currently had a P7 billion portfolio and was keen to add more assets as part of a strategy to grow the company into Botswana’s largest investor and a significant contributor to government.
The transactions of between one to two billion pula are in the local market and cut across various commodities and stages of development.
Chief investment officer, Modise Mokone told BusinessWeek that technical assessments were continuing on the target enterprises, but these could not be identified for now due to commercial confidentiality agreements.
“The one to two billion are transactions that we are currently looking at now and they are all local, while the target of $1 billion will include other transactions regionally and internationally,” he said. “In terms of commodities, we are multipronged and looking at commodities across the board, like copper, CBM, nickel and others. “There are transactions that we are looking at that are operating companies, others are developing in terms of the mines, while some are at bankable, feasibility or pre-feasibility stage. “But we are also keeping an eye on transactions that are much earlier through our exploration company, to say how do we work with these guys to bring up these projects?”
MDCB recently finalised a study into the renewable energy sector and critical minerals, which is an area of interest in terms of investment for the firm, Modise said.
“We want to grow this company to become the country’s largest investor and build long-term value for the shareholder and Batswana,” he said. “With the existing assets, we want to ensure optimal performance to get market or above market returns. “We provide strategic guidance in our investments.”
At present, MDCB wholly owns Morupule Coal Mine and has a 15% stake in De Beers, with the investments held on behalf of government. The firm also owns 100% of BCL Ltd which is currently in liquidation and it also has a convertible debenture facility in Minergy Coal.
MDCB’s investments have collective revenues of about P1.6 billion per year and employ approximately 21,000 people directly.
