Acquisition of Paynet Limited

LonZim PLC
05 March 2008


5 March 2008


                                   LonZim Plc

                         LonZim acquires Paynet Limited


LonZim Plc ('LonZim' or the 'Company'), which has been established for the
principal purpose of making investments in Zimbabwe and the Beira corridor in
Mozambique, is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement to acquire a
100 per cent. shareholding in Paynet Limited, which in turn is the beneficiary
of Lanuarna Trust Zimbabwe ('Lanuarna').

The consideration is US$3,187,000, which LonZim will pay in cash out of its own
resources.  Included in the acquisition is the newly built, modern commercial
property in Harare from which Paynet Zimbabwe operates, valued at US$1,025,000,
and other fixed and current assets valued at $371,500.

Based on the Zimbabwe Dollar monthly earnings for Lanuarna for 2007, converted
to US Dollar figures using the Old Mutual Implied Rate, the profit before tax
for 2007, after removing non-realised exchange rate losses and non-recurring
expenses, was US$569,000, giving a PBT multiple of 3.15.

Lanuarna wholly owns three operating companies in Zimbabwe - Paynet Zimbabwe,
Paywell and Autopay - and holds 100 per cent of the property holding company, Le
Har. It also has a 51 per cent stake in a joint venture company, Tradanet.

Lanuarna has been established and successfully operating in Zimbabwe for ten
years and has experienced growth in its core businesses in the past four years,
despite the current economic situation.

The Paynet Zimbabwe system is an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) system that
automates the process of companies transmitting bulk payment instructions to
their corresponding banks and financial institutions such as salary transfers,
supplier/trade payments and direct debits.  This creates a cost-effective and
efficient means of transferring funds that is advantageous to both the company
and the bank, which has contributed greatly to the rapid success of Paynet
Zimbabwe in the past few years, particularly as more basic manual fund transfer
methods have become more expensive and error-ridden.

In addition to the provision of software systems Paynet Zimbabwe provides a
complete outsourced service to its clients for the management of the systems and
for providing all training and ongoing technical support to corporate users.

AutoPay is Zimbabwe's largest private sector outsourced salary bureau,
processing salaries for corporate clients across Zimbabwe.  Apart from simply
calculating and processing salaries, Autopay provides a complete end-to-end
service for managing salary payments, third party payroll creditors, submission
of statutory returns, medical aid returns, pension payments, printing of pay
slips and production of hard and soft copy accounting reports.

Paywell in Zimbabwe is an agent for the Paywell payroll system, licensed out of
South Africa. Paywell sells and supports the payroll software to Zimbabwe's
largest companies. The company offers both support and training to users either
through its own in-house staff or through a number of consultants that have the
necessary skills.

Tradanet is a 51% owned joint venture company with Ottonby (Pvt) Ltd. Tradanet
provides a service for client employees to access small loans at reduced
interest rates from the Central Africa Building Society.

Le Har is a property owning company and holds the title deeds for the modern and
up-market Lanuarna offices in the Mt Pleasant Business Park.



David Lenigas, Executive Chairman of LonZim, commented:

'The purchase of Paynet, strategically complements LonZim's previous investment
in the Zimbabwean publicly listed company Celsys. These are businesses that are
already successful in the current economic environment, demonstrating their
strength and potential, and are incredibly well positioned to benefit
significantly from an economic upturn in Zimbabwe.  With low overheads and a
strong and established client base we believe that the acquisition adds
considerable value to the growing LonZim portfolio of companies and we look
forward to building the LonZim stable of financial companies in this exciting
market.'


It should be noted that the figures used in this announcement have been derived
from Zimbabwe Dollar based accounts; Lanuarna operates in a hyper-inflationary
environment subject to exchange rate fluctuations making its financial
statements (and those of its subsidiaries) and conversion to US Dollar figures
open to wide differences in interpretation. In an effort to quantify the
transaction values, Ernst & Young Zimbabwe have calculated a US Dollar earnings
figure for Lanuarna by converting the Zimbabwe Dollar monthly earnings figures
for 2007 to US Dollar figures using the Old Mutual Implied Rate.



ENQUIRIES

Lonrho Plc                                           [phone]

David Lenigas, Executive Chairman                    [phone]
Geoffrey White, Chief Executive Officer              [phone]
Emma Priestley, Executive Director                   [phone]

Pelham PR
Charles Vivian                                       [phone]

                                                     [phone]
James MacFarlane                                     [phone]
                                                     [phone]

Collins Stewart Europe: NOMAD
Helen Goldsmith                                      [phone]





NOTES TO EDITORS

About LONZIM:

LonZim Plc ('LonZim') is a company focused on developing and acquiring business
opportunities primarily in Zimbabwe and the region of Mozambique known as the
Beira Corridor, which links Zimbabwe to the coast.  LonZim was listed on the AIM
market of the London Stock Exchange on 11th December 2007 after raising £29.16
million.  LonZim is 20 per cent. owned and managed by Lonrho Plc (AIM: LONR) a
company strategically focused on the development of business opportunities in
infrastructure, transportation, support services and natural resources
throughout Africa.


Since listing in December 2007, LonZim has invested in or acquired control of:

Celsys Limited www.celsys.co.zw
Gardoserve (Private) Ltd t/a Millpal Chemicals

Aldeamento Turistico de Macuti, SARL., a company owning land in central Beira on
the Mozambique coast




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