Exchange Listed Companies

Novus subsidiary Novus Print has concluded an agreement to acquire Pearson plc’s 75% stake in Pearson South Africa for a base consideration of R829,4 million. The remaining 25% stake is held by BEE partners Sphere RB Investments and Pearson Marang Education Trust whose stake will remain in place following the conclusion of the acquisition. Within the Pearson SA stable are the print materials and CAPS-approved textbook publishers Heinemann and Maskew Miller Longman. The acquisition is a category 1 transaction.

Lonmin UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sibanye Stillwater has disposed of its majority stake in Lonmin Canada (Loncan) to Ontario-headquartered Magna Mining, valuing Loncan’s assets, which include the Denison project and Crean Hill mine, at C$16 million.

Mondi plc is to sell its Russian pulp, packaging paper and uncoated fine paper mill Mondi Syktyvkar to Augment Investment for a consideration of RUB95 billion (c.€1,5 billion). The category 1 transaction will require shareholder approval. In a separate transaction, Mondi has agreed to acquire the Duino mill near Trieste in Italy from the Burgo Group for a total consideration of €40 million. The containerboard machine in operation at the mill will strengthen the groups backward integration in corrugated packaging.

Fortress REIT shareholders have rejected the proposed scheme by the Board to repurchase all the Fortress A shares held, in consideration for the issue of 3.01281 Fortress B shares for every Fortress A share held. This, despite the fact, that prior to proposing the scheme the company engaged extensively with shareholders of both A and B shares on the need to collapse the dual share structure, warning that failure to do so would lead to the loss of REIT status which requires certain distributions of income.

The acquisition by SGT Solutions (40% owned by Ayo Technology Solutions and 60% held by African Equity Empowerment Investments) of Italian Summer, a company in the power management and backup solutions industry, has been terminated. The reason given for the immediate termination is the unfulfillment of conditions precedent.

Unlisted Companies

Seriti Resources has reached financial close on its acquisition of a majority stake in wind-powered renewable energy company Windlab Africa. The acquisition, through its subsidiary Seriti Green, consists of 100% of Windlab South Africa and 75% of Windlab East Africa. Windlab Africa is valued at c. US$55 million (R892 million). As part of the transaction involving debt and equity, RMB and Standard Bank have each taken a 14.5% stake in Windlab Africa for transaction considerations of US$5,8 million (R95,1 million).

Pretoria-based veterinary pharmaceutical company Afrivet Southern Africa has been acquired by US animal health distributor Bimeda. Afrivet also operates in Zambia and Mozambique while Bimedia has a long-established presence in Africa. Financial details were undisclosed.

City Logistics and private equity firm Clearwater Capital have acquired the Fastway Couriers South Africa franchise, with City Logistics taking the majority 70% stake. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Sango Capital, a local investment management firm, has acquired a controlling stake in Tunis Stock Exchange-listed Sotipapier, a manufacturer of Kraft paper, test line and flute paper based in Tunisia. The stake was acquired from private equity firm SPE Capital for an undisclosed sum.

Homefarm, a Johannesburg-based agritech startup, has raised c.R1,7 million in a seed funding round. The funds will be used to scale its operations, improve its service offering and roll out its marketing and distribution channels. The startup has as a fully automated indoor farms model which allows people to grow their own food.

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