BUSINESS REPORTER
Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube has extended the suspension of the fungibility of Old Mutual Zimbabwe and PPC shares by another year as the government is still considering a probe by capital markets regulator on dual listed counters.
Last year, Ncube suspended the fungibility of shares of Old Mutual, PPC and Seed Co International for a year, which meant that they could not be traded in other bourses they are listed.
In a notice published in an extra ordinary Government Gazette on Friday, Ncube said the suspension will run up to March 11, 2022.
Dual-listed counters were forced to exit the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange when it reopened in August after a one-month closure to facilitate investigations into illicit deals blamed for the routing of the local unit against major currencies.
Dual-listed counters, particularly Old Mutual, was blamed with authorities saying the Old Mutual Implied Rate– a comparison of the price of shares of insurer Old Mutual in London and Harare—had fuelled the depreciation of the local unit.
It was recommended that dual-listed counters should trade on a foreign currency-only bourse, the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX). With Seed Co International trading on VFEX, it was hoped that PPC and Old Mutual would join the bourse. It could not be immediately ascertained if the two counters would pursue the VFEX route with the latest ban.
