COMPANY COMMENT: International Finance Corporation lies low in Sassa/Net1 debacle
The IFC uses flimsy grounds to justify mostly keeping quiet despite being the largest single shareholder
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has been remarkably successful in staying out of the Sassa/Net1 limelight. Given it is the largest single shareholder with a 19% interest, this is indeed a considerable achievement. The corporation, which is part of the World Bank, justifies its refusal to provide anything more than brief but tedious official comments in response to queries on the flimsy grounds that it is not its practice to comment on rumour or speculation. Unlike Allan Gray, which initially invested in Net 1 in 2012, the IFC came to the party late in the day. It pumped $107m into Net 1 in April 2016. In the press release at the time, it described how it "promotes financial citizenship to the world’s poorest by backing innovative companies" such as Net 1, which aim to reach millions of previously excluded customers. More recently, it praised Net 1 for developing innovative technology that securely and efficiently provides a variety of financial services at low cost compa...
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