COMPANY COMMENT
African Phoenix and Zarclear set for a showdown
Preference shareholders are looking for ‘fair value’, and might find it in court
It looks as though African Phoenix Investments (API), which rose out of the ashes of African Bank, is being kept busy these days. On one hand it’s trying to fend off irate preference shareholders who are holding out for “fair value” payment for their preference shares; and on the other, it is trying to deal with a major new shareholder — who appears to be unhappy.
In the latest development, financial investment company Zarclear, which paid a hefty R246m to get a 22% stake in API just more than a month ago, has demanded a meeting of API shareholders. It looks as though Zarclear wants to terminate API’s plans to set up a private equity-type fund. Presumably, it reckons that if the veterans at well-resourced African Rainbow Capital are unable to create value in this sort of business, then API’s comparative newcomers will struggle...
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