settlement of sioc-cdt transaction, page-35

The announcement today gives confirmation that the settlement is completed, in as far as the partnership is locked in - and SIOC-cdt are in this for the long haul. SIOC-cdt will have played a large role in editing & approving the wording of the announcement, so we have to respect that the quality of information available to us is guided by SIOC-cdt. It takes two to tango, and in this case SIOC-cdt are leading the tango.

The key to the announcement's significance is here:

Mr Connie Molusi, Chairperson of the SIOC-cdt Board, non-executive director of the Company and newly appointed Chairman of CCL, said “We are pleased that our investment in CCL has proceeded, and as a partner with Continental, we can now look forward to working together to further build on our thermal coal mining business in South Africa.”

SIOC-cdt has identified its investment in CCL and partnership with Continental as signaling SIOC-cdt’s intention of growing the Super Trust’s balance sheet within the next 7 to 10 years and taking a more active role in investing in key South African natural resources to generate significant additional returns for its community members.

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In terms of social & political "licence" - this BBBEE partnership is huge for Conti - and will open a lot of doors to new deals and smooth the way to completion of transactions which would have taken longer without the "cache" Conti gets from its new, highly respected BBBEE partner. Of course, the extra capital and cashflow injection helps too!