Our View

Lack of knowledge of the environmental status at the time of a land or property transaction may result in significant and unknown financial liabilities. The result may have an adverse impact on our company reputation. We must therefore have processes to determine all environmental liabilities associated with any acquisition or divestment. Liabilities may extend beyond property boundaries and may include liabilities associated with products.

Full knowledge of the environmental status of a project will allow us to make an informed decision on how to proceed. It is important that:

• for an acquisition, we consider the cost of assuming existing environmental liabilities in the purchase price; and
• for a divestment, we have complied with all statutory obligations and the purchaser knows about the ongoing environmental liabilities that already exist. This will minimise potential recourse to WMC in respect of liabilities post transaction.

Full knowledge of the environmental status at the time of a transaction is also important should governments, future owners or other stakeholders wish to assign responsibilities for past contamination or degradation. Therefore, the environmental "information baseline" that we prepare will often become the important reference document to find out what, if any, environmental impact resulted from our operations.

Our Operating Policy

In WMC, we will:

• Perform environmental assessments before the acquisition or divestment of any property, to find out the actual and potential environmental impacts and liabilities at the time of the transaction.
• Provide a prospective purchaser with information about known significant environmental impacts at the time of divestment.
• Provide the relevant authorities with information about known significant environmental impacts at the time of relinquishment.