Dimension Data has announced an empowerment deal and a reorganisation of some of its business units.
DiData`s 28% stake in Paracon, its 58% stake in 3fifteen and its 75% stake in Pebbletree Consulting will be consolidated into a single entity - the Britehouse Group.
"Britehouse will be held by a wholly-owned DiData subsidiary - so it sits outside of DiData," says Paul Vorster, one of the three directors of Britehouse.
Britehouse will be an empowered entity, with two black consortiums (IT tycoon Andile Ngcaba`s Convergence Partners, and Safika Holdings) each taking a 15% share.
No re-branding
The arrangement sees DiData`s Microsoft and SAP applications divisions housed under one umbrella, but the company says there will be no re-branding of any of the three companies.
"The brands will continue operating under their own names, and there will be no consolidation of back-office systems," adds James Baber, CEO of 3fifteen.
Paracon employs about 1 800 people, and the other two companies together bring the total staff complement under the Britehouse stable to about 2 000.
While its 28% stake in the listed Paracon is currently worth over R180 million, the value of Britehouse`s interests in 3fifteen and Pebbletree was not disclosed.
Fellow directors Jeremy Ord (DiData chairman), Ngcaba, and an as yet unnamed Safika representative will join Vorster.
Benefits
The main benefit of the consolidation, says Pebbletree CEO Paolo Masselli, is being able to provide a comprehensive range of solutions under one banner.
It will help the company win full tenders, rather than only being awarded the infrastructure component, for instance, he explains.
Vorster says there are several key tenders on which Britehouse will focus.
To questions of future plans of listing, Vorster says: "It could be one of our plans - but I`m not saying that is the process that we will follow. We will keep assessing."
There will, he adds, be no attempt to increase DiData`s shareholding in any of the three companies in the near future.
Vorster remains silent on how much the consortiums paid for their interests in Britehouse. "But I can tell you this: the transaction was split into two components - an equity and a financing component."
There is a possibility that the deal will require Competition Commission approval, but he says if this is the case, he foresees no problems. "They are all DiData-held assets."
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