Ethos to take IST off JSE

By Paul Vecchiatto for IST-1
Cape Town, 13 Jul 2004

A consortium headed by Ethos Private Equity is finalising funding arrangements to acquire outstanding shares in the IST Group.

The consortium comprises Ethos Private Equity Fund IV and Ethos Technology Fund I, certain members of the IST management team, Alastair Moffat, Lindsay Robertson and ICT Investments, a black economic empowerment (BEE) company.

Sanlam Investment Managers, the largest institutional investor in IST with 48% of the shares, has already indicated it would be willing to sell its stake.

An offer to minority shareholders of 180c per share will be made in the near future.

The purchase of the shares would allow IST to meet its strategic objectives in finding a BEE partner. IST says its current BEE structure will have to be unwound and the board has concluded it would be better if the group were privately held.

"Furthermore, IST does not foresee a need to use its JSE listing to raise capital and the offeror (the consortium) therefore does not believe that the costs of maintaining this listing are justified."

IST was awarded a R260 million contract for the design of three key systems for the Koeberg reactor`s proposed demonstration plant. However, in the group`s annual results, CEO Harry Coetzee said continued funding delays at the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Company had constricted the anticipated revenue from this source.

The group also has software and telecommunications operations and during the 2003 financial year it invested R62 million in product development and acquisitions.

The IST share price surged 11c, or 6.6%, to 176c on the JSE this morning.