by Nurat Uthman
Abu Dhabi-based International Resources Holding (IRH) has signed an agreement with South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to invest in rail infrastructure and green energy projects, the two entities said on Monday.
IRH is a subsidiary of International Holding Company ,the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) richest company, while the state-owned PIC is Africa’s largest asset manager. The PIC’s 2.89 trillion rand ($169 billion) assets under management include mining, agriculture, manufacturing, real estate and financial services investments.
IRH and PIC would cooperate on South Africa’s planned replacement of its coal-dominated power generation with cleaner sources of energy, they said in a joint statement, without giving details.
They would also seek to expand South Africa’s logistical capacity by addressing persistent freight rail and port bottlenecks which have throttled commodity exports.
South Africa’s state-owned logistics firm Transnet, which operates the country’s freight rail and ports, has struggled to provide adequate services due to equipment shortages and maintenance backlogs after years of under-investment.
The agreement would also “bring underperforming and undeveloped mining assets” in South Africa to full production capacity, they said. They did not name the assets.
Earlier this year, IRH completed the acquisition of a 51% stake in Zambia’s Mopani Copper Mines. The IRH has also been pursuing other copper assets in Zambia as the UAE and seeks to secure critical metal supplies from Africa amid a global shift to cleaner energy.
The IRH also has operations or prospects in Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, according to its website.
