Zambezi Portland Cement is returned to Ventriglia family

Zambian multi-millionaire entrepreneur Rajan Mahtani has lost ownership of Zambezi Portland Cement after the High Court of Zambia awarded full ownership of the company to the Ventriglia family of Italy on Monday.

The outcome follows a decade-long court battle between the Ventriglia family and Rajan Mahtani who had claimed that he owned a 58 per cent controlling stake in the business as payment for organising financing for the Ventriglia family years ago, but the Ventriglia family insisted that he had no claim to the stake, asserting full ownership of the company.

The Ventriglia family has insisted that they never transferred the shares to Mahtani’s company.

"Mahtani has been unable to produce the original signed copies of the share transfer certificates because they simply do not exist and he never paid for the shares. As such, complete ownership of the company firmly rests with the Antonio Ventriglia family," a spokesperson of Zambezi Portland Cement confirmed.