Basil Read will soon disclose the potential private placement of shares that will result in it becoming a black-owned company as soon as this can be done. It is among seven JSE-listed construction groups to reach a voluntary settlement agreement, also known as the Voluntary Rebuild Programme, with the government to transform the industry. "We are trying to do as commercial a deal as is possible," Basil Read CEO Neville Nicolau says. This means any black investor will have to make an equity placement and take risks at board, executive management and operational level. "We have not pursued any vendor-financed deals, although we get offers all the time," Nicolau says. The intention of any deal is to take black shareholding in Basil Read on the JSE past 51%, he says. This is well above an agreement to sell not less than a 40% economic interest in its South African civil engineering and general building construction business to an enterprise that is more than 51% black-owned, managed and...

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