Nedbank to cut banking ties with firm in Iqbal Survé stable
Premier Fishing and Brands share tumbles 28% after bank’s decision to turn its back on Sekunjalo Investments company
16 February 2022 - 23:16
byMICHELLE GUMEDE and Karl Gernetzky
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Nedbank will cut banking ties with Premier Fishing and Brands (PFB), joining at least two rivals in turning their backs on the companies in Iqbal Survé’s Sekunjalo Investments stable and sending shares in the lobster catcher crashing.
The PFB share price dropped 28.57% to 50c on Wednesday.
PFB is a part of the African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI) stable, the parent company of Ayo Technology Solutions controlled by Survé.
The move underscores corporate reluctance to be associated with the group, which has hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons.
Nedbank did not give reasons for severing ties with the two companies because of client confidentiality clauses.
Sekunjalo and its relationship with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) featured in an inquiry into whether the R2.3-trillion state asset manager was reckless in investment public servants’ pensions. The findings were damning against Sekunjalo and the PIC, which pumped in R4.3bn for a 29% stake in Ayo — a valuation deemed rich for the company, which is now valued at just more than R1.4bn.
Ayo has denied that any of its executives made any misrepresentations to the PIC regarding the nature of the investment. The PIC is suing the company to get its money back.
Other banks that have ditched Sekunjalo-affiliated companies in the past several months are Absa and FirstRand’s FNB.
Companies such as the corporate governance advisory unit of PSG, auditing house BDO and Sasol have also cut ties.
Sekunjalo’s predicament conjures up memories of the downfall of the Gupta-linked companies in 2016 and 2017, when banks, auditors and advisers terminated their relationships with the entities at the heart of state capture.
Both AEEI and PFB tried to have the court block Nedbank from closing their accounts but their application for an urgent interdict was dismissed on Tuesday, Sekunjalo said in its statement.
It added that arrangements were under way for alternative payment methods and that it was reviewing its options for transactional banking facilities. “The company believes that it is entitled to fair treatment,” it said, adding it was pleased that the judge noted the conduct of the banks, and in particular Nedbank, in attempting to delay the hearing of the matter.
The group said the court noted that the matter was better suited to the equality court — where AEEI is seeking an interdict — because it was an important matter of transformational constitutionalism.
Nedbank said on Wednesday it could not comment on matters concerning a client but noted that “decisions to terminate banking relationships with clients are neither arbitrary nor discriminatory.
“Such decisions are taken independently by Nedbank with reference to its own assessment of all the relevant information and due diligence processes and the particular facts and merits of each case,” it said.
Sekunjalo scoffed that Nedbank cited that the bank’s reputation was in jeopardy “in the face of condemning revelations revealed in the Zondo commission report and Nedbank’s apparent links to corruption”.
PFB, which is valued at R188m on the JSE, is the largest black-owned and controlled fishing company in SA, according to the company website. Among its major shareholders are AEEI and the Government Employees Pension Fund.
The company, whose board is steered by business person Aziza Begum Amod, listed on the JSE in March 2017.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Nedbank to cut banking ties with firm in Iqbal Survé stable
Premier Fishing and Brands share tumbles 28% after bank’s decision to turn its back on Sekunjalo Investments company
Nedbank will cut banking ties with Premier Fishing and Brands (PFB), joining at least two rivals in turning their backs on the companies in Iqbal Survé’s Sekunjalo Investments stable and sending shares in the lobster catcher crashing.
The PFB share price dropped 28.57% to 50c on Wednesday.
PFB is a part of the African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI) stable, the parent company of Ayo Technology Solutions controlled by Survé.
The move underscores corporate reluctance to be associated with the group, which has hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons.
Nedbank did not give reasons for severing ties with the two companies because of client confidentiality clauses.
Sekunjalo and its relationship with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) featured in an inquiry into whether the R2.3-trillion state asset manager was reckless in investment public servants’ pensions. The findings were damning against Sekunjalo and the PIC, which pumped in R4.3bn for a 29% stake in Ayo — a valuation deemed rich for the company, which is now valued at just more than R1.4bn.
Ayo has denied that any of its executives made any misrepresentations to the PIC regarding the nature of the investment. The PIC is suing the company to get its money back.
Other banks that have ditched Sekunjalo-affiliated companies in the past several months are Absa and FirstRand’s FNB.
Companies such as the corporate governance advisory unit of PSG, auditing house BDO and Sasol have also cut ties.
Sekunjalo’s predicament conjures up memories of the downfall of the Gupta-linked companies in 2016 and 2017, when banks, auditors and advisers terminated their relationships with the entities at the heart of state capture.
Both AEEI and PFB tried to have the court block Nedbank from closing their accounts but their application for an urgent interdict was dismissed on Tuesday, Sekunjalo said in its statement.
It added that arrangements were under way for alternative payment methods and that it was reviewing its options for transactional banking facilities. “The company believes that it is entitled to fair treatment,” it said, adding it was pleased that the judge noted the conduct of the banks, and in particular Nedbank, in attempting to delay the hearing of the matter.
The group said the court noted that the matter was better suited to the equality court — where AEEI is seeking an interdict — because it was an important matter of transformational constitutionalism.
Nedbank said on Wednesday it could not comment on matters concerning a client but noted that “decisions to terminate banking relationships with clients are neither arbitrary nor discriminatory.
“Such decisions are taken independently by Nedbank with reference to its own assessment of all the relevant information and due diligence processes and the particular facts and merits of each case,” it said.
Sekunjalo scoffed that Nedbank cited that the bank’s reputation was in jeopardy “in the face of condemning revelations revealed in the Zondo commission report and Nedbank’s apparent links to corruption”.
PFB, which is valued at R188m on the JSE, is the largest black-owned and controlled fishing company in SA, according to the company website. Among its major shareholders are AEEI and the Government Employees Pension Fund.
The company, whose board is steered by business person Aziza Begum Amod, listed on the JSE in March 2017.
gumedemi@businesslive.co.za
gernetzkyk@businesslive.co.za
AEEI and PFB stumped by Nedbank’s termination of their banking facilities
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