Cited by the independent newsheet "Mediafax", Namburete said that the government is awaiting responses to the invitations it sent to various financial institutions to form partnerships to pay the 700 million US dollars that it owes Portugal for 67 per cent of HCB.
Under the agreement signed in Maputo last October by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, Mozambique is to acquire 85 per cent of the shares in HCB, while the Portuguese state retains the remaining 15 per cent.
Since the current ownership structure is that Portugal holds 82 per cent of the shares and Mozambique 18 per cent, this means that Mozambique is buying 67 per cent of the shares.
The financial part of the deal is that Mozambique is to pay 700 million dollars for the shares plus 250 million dollars to write off HCB's debt to Portugal (which the Lisbon authorities claimed was in excess of 2.5 billion dollars).
The 250 million dollars has already been paid out of HCB's coffers, since it is now a viable and profitable company, but the government needs a partnership with financial institutions to raise the other 700 million.
"The deadlines remain and everything is being done to meet them", said Namburete. "Shortly we shall be receiving the proposals from the financial bodies who received our invitation".
That should happen by April, and the government must then decide which of the proposals it receives is most advantageous.
Effectively the government is seeking a loan of 700 million dollars, confident that the money can be repaid out of the profits of Cahora Bassa.
The 700 million dollars should be paid this year, but the October agreement allows "under exceptional circumstances" for the deadline to be extended to 30 June 2008, provided 50 per cent is paid in 2007.
SOURCE: AIM
