Electronics group Reunert, which announced yesterday it had bought 31.7% of IT company CS Holdings, says it would be interested in increasing the stake "if we like what we see".
The group bought 40 million CS Holdings shares from Getronics and R37.7 million shares from Electra Share Ventures at 55c a share. Electra`s stake was managed by Gensec`s private equity arm.
Reunert CEO Boel Pretorius says he had been eyeing CS Holdings for some time. "I expressed an interest to Gensec probably three years ago," he says. "I`ve waited a long, long time."
Getronics shed its stake as part of its plan to divest non-core assets, while Gensec is closing its private equity operation.
Pretorius says IT is a subset of electronics, which is why many electronics engineers enter the IT industry.
"We are probably one of the bigger employers of electronics engineers in the country. It`s not foreign to us. But we`ve never exploited it except for our own use. All our IT efforts to date have basically been internally focused. We have always thought it might make sense to spread our wings a bit wider."
He says CS Holdings` last set of financial results, which showed a considerable dip, should be seen in relation to the IT industry as a whole.
"If I look at the IT industry and I compare it to the other IT companies in SA I think they`ve done remarkably well. The industry is in a downturn and one should bear that in mind. That`s why we decided to invest in it. I think it is one of the better IT companies in SA. I think we can do something with it."
Pretorius says while it is difficult at present to say whether the stake will be increased, "if we like what we see, should the opportunity arise, it would be only natural to pursue it".
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