Impala Platinum (Implats) has today (August 22nd) reaffirmed its A$4.08 per share cash offer to the minority shareholders of Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Zimplats).

According to the terms of the offer the opportunity to conclude an agreement as it presently stands will close next week, on August 29th.

A fortnight ago Zimbabwean financial services group Barbican Holdings said it was planning to make a A$5 a share offer for the 45 per cent of Zimplats owned by minority shareholders.

Currently Implats owns more than half (just over 55 per cent) of Zimplats as well as a 30 per cent stake in Zimplats' operating subsidiary Makwiro Platinum Mines.

Implats finance director David Brown told Business Day that Barbican was asked by Zimplats to supply details of the offer by August 15th.

'While details of the Barbican offer are still to be finalised, it seems clear that any Barbican offer would be for a combination of cash, expected to be around Aus$2, and scrip in an as yet unlisted Australian company,' he explained.

He went on to add that further details were necessary and that the offer, 'if it materialises, will be conditional due to Zimbabwean government financial controls and requirements for an Australian listing'.

According to Brown the market is highly sceptical that the Barbican offer will actually happen.