The Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) has confirmed that the trading suspension of First Quantum Minerals (FQM) Limited on the Zambia Depository Receipts (ZDRs) of the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) has been lifted.
A ZDR is a security that represents an interest in underlying common shares of the company. A custodian on behalf of the depositary in the company’s home market holds the underlying common shares. FQM is a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada and only issued a Zambian Depositary Receipt (ZDR) on LuSE on 12 July 2011. The ZDRs upon being listed on LuSE were able to trade on LuSE like any other listed security.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, LuSE Business Development Officer Lina Lungu said a halt is a normal and standard process on a stock exchange and FQM has since resumed trading.
According to information made available to the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, LuSE clarified that the halt in the FQM ZDRs was effected pursuant to the LuSE Trading Procedures in the interest of maintaining an orderly, fair, efficient and transparent market, adding that this is not the first time LuSE has conducted a trading halt in a listed security.
LuSE has clarified that FQM was not suspended from LuSE but rather trading in the ZDRs was halted pursuant to a LuSE trading procedure and communicated to the LuSE brokers on 3 March 2022. This effectively meant that trading in ZDRs could not be executed on 3 March 2022. Moreover, FQM is not listed on LuSE and therefore cannot be suspended by LuSE.
The Lusaka Securities Exchange has refuted claims by various media platforms and newspapers, that First Quantum Minerals Limited (the parent company to Kansanshi and Kalumbila – Trident Mines of Zambia) has been suspended from LuSE.
