COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Press oil nations on climate- TotalEnergies urges

The head of French firm TotalEnergies says national oil giants from the Gulf and other nations must pull their weight against global warming, and the Emirati oil executive chairing the COP28 climate summit is right man to press them.

The appointment of Sultan al-Jaber as head of the COP28 talks to be held in Dubai later this year has been controversial because he heads the United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

But TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne told AFP that Jaber "is trying to level up the discussions and he knows well what the expectations are on this".

The French firm, like other Western oil majors such as BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, has been hit with criticism and lawsuits for continuing to invest heavily in fossil fuel extraction.

The International Energy Agency says no new oil projects can be launched if the world is to reach net zero carbon emissions by mid-century and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Pouyanne, however, insisted the world will continue to need fossil fuels to meet growing energy demand from developing nations.

Western oil and gas firms no longer dominate the world energy markets, accounting for 15 percent of total output in 2018.-Fin24

Attacq inks R2.7bn deal with PIC

Property group Attacq said it has inked a R2.7 billion deal with the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) that will see state pensioners take a 30% stake in a subsidiary which owns Waterfall City.

The deal, still subject to various approvals, is set to accelerate developments at the massive mixed-use development precinct in Midrand, while also allowing Attacq to cut its debt.

Attacq announced in February it had signed a non-binding agreement with the GEPF, which prompted its share price to surge by a fifth, while on Thursday, it announced it had now reached a binding legal agreement. This is, however, slightly less than the investment amount originally mooted in February.

Under the agreement, the GEPF, via the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), will own 30% of the ordinary shares and shareholder loans in Attacq Waterfall City Investment Company (AWIC) in exchange for a maximum consideration of R2.388 billion in cash, with an additional R300 million being injected as a shareholder loan.

The group intends on utilising the proceeds to settle R2.2 billion of debt in AWIC and about R500 million of debt in the rest of the group.

AWIC had debt of about R5 billion at the end of December, while Attacq, which is currently valued at about R6.5 billion on the JSE, had net debt of about R7.9 billion.-Fin24

Independent Newspapers mulls job cuts

Independent Newspapers, the publisher of titles such as The Cape Times, The Star, Isolezwe and The Mercury, is contemplating cutting 115 editorial and production jobs in a bid to remain sustainable in a harsh operating environment.

The newspaper group sent a section 189 notice to unions on Friday indicating that it wants to hold consultations ahead of the possible dismissals.

The media group's CEO, Takudzwa Hove, said in the letter that Independent Newspapers could "no longer maintain a high, largely fixed cost structure considering the declining revenue base and evolving operating processes".

The letter adds: "The loss of revenue and non-profitability of titles, which was evident prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, has worsened and continues to decline."

Other titles in the Independent Newspapers stable include the Independent on Saturday, Sunday Tribune, Saturday Star, Sunday Independent, Pretoria News and Daily Voice.

The proposed cuts appear not to impact staff at Independent Online, the online sister site to Independent Newspapers. –Fin24

Post Bank appoints ooba exec

Ntomboxolo Nikki Mbengashe has been appointed as CEO of the Postbank South Africa for a period of five years, Cabinet said in a statement.

The Postbank is struggling to achieve government's ambition of becoming an independent, state-owned bank. The Postbank has been separated from the bleeding Post Office, but still needs to secure a banking licence from the SA Reserve Bank to offer credit and other banking products.

Instead, the SA Reserve Bank has warned the Postbank that it is at risk of being kicked out of the national payment system because its security isn't up to scratch. Last year, the Postbank lost more than R18 million in just three months to cybercrime attacks.

In October 2021, cybercrime cost the Postbank at least R90 million in a single month.

The Reserve Bank gave the Postbank until December 2023 to sort out its security measures, including "serious irregularities" in the issuing of Sassa cards.

Mbengashe joined mortgage broker ooba as chief operating officer two years ago. Previously, she was chief operating officer of Woolworths Financial Services for almost five years.

She also spent almost five years with Absa in various positions, including as chief operating officer of its retail bank.-Fin24