Court ruling for Patrice Motsepe after $195m mining deal with US company turns sour

BILLIONAIRE businessman Dr. Patrice Motsepes African Rainbow Capital (ARC) cannot be sued for US$195 million (about R3.2 billion) for breach of a confidentiality agreement for investing in its partner’s competitor.

- LOYISO SIDIMBA

On Tuesday, the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg ruled that US company Pula Group and its Tanzanian subsidiary Pula Graphite Partners are prevented from filing the lawsuit against ARC.

Instead, Judge Leicester Adams declared that if the Pula Group, which is chaired by former US ambassador to Tanzania Charles R Stith, is able to prove a breach of the agreement and damages arising from that breach, its contractual remedies are only against another of Motsepe’s companies, African Rainbow Minerals (ARM).

The breach of confidentiality relates to Pula Group and Pula Graphite Partners who accuse ARM and its affiliates of acquiring confidential information from the Pula Group, which enabled them (ARM and its affiliates), to invest in an Australian company Evolution Holdings to become part and parcel of the Chilalo Graphite Project, which is a direct competitor of Pula Group and Pula Graphite Partners in Tanzania.