adminMunyaradzi Musiiwa and Lovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondents
A FRENCH company has taken up a 60 percent controlling stake in Anchor Yeast, a development which will result in the rebranding of the country’s sole yeast manufacturer into Lesaffre Zimbabwe. In a speech read on his behalf by the Deputy Minister of Macro Economic Planning, Cde Monica Mutsvangwa, during the commissioning of the Anchor Yeast-Societe Industrielle Lesaffre merger yesterday, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the government was prioritising deliberate polices to improve the business environment in Zimbabwe to attract both foreign and domestic investment through promoting the ease of doing business among other initiatives.
He said the government was implementing a raft of measures that include overhauling the Companies Act and all pieces of legislation that hinder the ease of doing business. “The investment confirms that Zimbabwe is a safe destination for FDI and remains open for further investment. As emphasised by President Mugabe in his State of the Nation address last month, today’s merger underlines the government’s efforts to turn around the country’s economic turnaround through Zim-Asset,” he said.
Lesaffre controls over 60 percent of the world market and its products are sold in more than 180 countries. The merger will see Anchor Yeast taking the name Lesaffre Zimbabwe and increasing its workforce by 50 percent, from 125 employees. Meanwhile, Industry and Commerce Minister Cde Mike Bimha said the country’s indigenisation and economic empowerment legislation has been misunderstood as stifling investment.
Cde Bimha said the clause which states that at least 51 percent shareholding must be in the hands of locals only applies in areas where resources being exploited are finite like in the mining sector. Speaking on the side-lines of the official commissioning of the merger, the Minister said investors now have to engage line ministries who know the “intricacies” in a particular sector.
“The problem is that people don’t understand the law. The government has been very clear that the 51/49 percent threshold is where you apply for finite resources. In other sectors such as manufacturing you negotiate and you negotiate on the basis of what you put on offer,” he said.
“It’s not just a question of shareholding because there’s the huge capital that’s going to come in. There’s also the takeover of debt that’s going to take place and also the exchange of skills and technology and all these things come into the equation. In the end you need to come up with a form of win-win arrangement.”
“That’s what we’ve been doing as government and I haven’t had any interaction with any investor who isn’t happy with our indigenisation laws. I’m happy that the government has also found it fit that companies will engage with the line ministries because line ministries know exactly the intricacies within that particular sector,” he said.
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