JOHANNESBURG – Financial adviser Lazard will conclude its assessment of which assets South Africa's state-owned power firm Eskom can put up for sale in the next few days, Eskom’s chairperson Jabu Mabuza said yesterday.
“We have hired Lazard to look at what assets, if any, we can dispose of on our balance sheet,” Mabuza said on the sidelines of the FT Africa Summit in London, adding he expected Lazard to conclude their task in the next week.
“We have not hired Lazard to advise us on debt-for-equity swops. That discussion is off the table. We are not asking any of our debt providers to swop debt for equity, including the PIC,” he added, referring to the state pension fund Public Investment Corporation.
Cash-strapped Eskom is critical to Africa's most industrialised economy as it supplies more than 90 percent of its power, but is also one of its most indebted state firms.
“They (Eskom) have enough liquidity for the next year, and they don’t require any cash from the government side,” Gordhan said on the sidelines of the FT Africa Summit in London.