BY MELODY CHIKONO
VICTORIA Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX)-listed diversified group Zimplow seeks to raise US$5 million in the next two years for capital projects as it eyes growth beyond the region, a company official has said.
The company, which listed on the foreign currency-denominated bourse recently, said there was room for growth in manufacturing of local components in the commercial agricultural space.
Zimplow is currently rooted in agriculture, mining and infrastructure.
“We are looking for foreign investors for the sectors that are mining, agriculture and Infrastructure,” Zimplow board chairperson Godfrey Manhambara told NewsDay Business on the sidelines of the company's listing ceremony in Victoria Falls recently.
“In commercial agriculture, there is a lot of room ... If you look at the sector, almost everything that is used in the sector is imported. So, we need that technology and processing capability to be able to do that.”
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The firm also needs capital ahead of its plans to seal a deal with a new Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) following the exit of Barzem.
“We are also looking for a partner in heavy equipment manufacturing. It is going to require us to have some money to support that. We believe there is a lot of infrastructure development that is also going to happen in the near future and we need to be in the thick of things,” he said.
Caterpillar, the world’s largest earthmoving equipment maker, last year exited its 70-year-old dealership arrangement with Zimplow.
Zimplow held the Caterpillar local dealership through Barzem Enterprises.
Manhambara indicated that in terms of the direction the company was taking, VFEX offered the right visibility for foreign investors as well as suppliers and markets the group is targeting within the region.
“The VFEX enables them the opportunity to analyse Zimbabwean companies without distortion of hyperinflation volatility and so on. It also gives us transparency in the sense that the figures that we produce are going to be in a stable currency which allows us to post our performance and people can assess us accurately,” Manhambara said.