FOSSIL Mines, a major shareholder in the troubled Khayah Cement, has been pushed out of the cement manufacturing industry following a creditors meeting in Harare this Wednesday, with the company set to sell its shares at a loss.
Khayah Cement has been struggling since being placed under United States sanctions, leading to the drying up of lines of credit, while other funders stopped dealing with the company.
A creditors meeting marked the beginning of a roadmap towards resuscitating the company which was placed under corporate rescue in December last year.
It has since emerged that despite the financial challenges, a roadmap tabled by the entity’s corporate rescue practitioner, Bulisa Mbano, towards its revival was approved by creditors and investors.
“The meeting went on well and it is our hope that the resolutions for the rescue plan will be implemented in accordance with our time lines for the befit of investors and creditors,” he said.
Engagements with creditors are cited as key in facilitating the revival of the company.
“It is our hope that what we have managed to gather today will set the tone towards the revival of the entity,” Mbano said.
“Of course, there are challenges, but engagements are key in finding each other and get to real issues for the revival of the entity.”
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The meeting, which attracted a huge turnout of creditors and investors, also marked the beginning of the journey towards finding solutions to safeguarding gains made on cement availability and self-reliance for the commodity in Zimbabwe.
In 2022, Fossil Mine acquired a 76,45% stake in the then Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Limited from Associated International Cement Limited, a member of the Holcim Group.
Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Limited was later rebranded to Khayah.
The United States Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Fossil Agro, Fossil Contracting and company director Obey Chimuka, placing them under sanctions.
