Cyberhost to get new owner

By Iain Scott, ITWeb group consulting editor

Johannesburg, 06 Dec 2005

Cyberhost will have new owners once a planned reverse acquisition is carried out.

The company, which returned to solvency after reaching a compromise with its creditors at the end of last year, is acquiring Top Restaurants and Intranet for a total of R61.28 million.

The Top Restaurants price of R60.33 million consists of R31.71 million for the 100% shareholding held by Queensgate Leisure Holdings and R28.61 million for the shareholders loan. The shareholding will be paid by the issue of about 634.2 million shares at 5c each and the shareholders loan will be paid for by about 143.07 cumulative redeemable preference shares at 20c each.

The R950 000 price tag on Intranet is to be paid by the issue of 19 million shares at 5c each to Top Restaurant Brands.

Approval of the deal will result in a change of control, and the company will apply to the Securities Regulation Panel for the waiver of an offer to minority shareholders, says Cyberhost chairman Colin Human.

The company will also apply for the lifting of the suspension of its share after the acquisition. However, Human points out that the lifting of the suspension is at the JSE`s discretion and depends on the JSE`s assessment of the suitability of Cyberhost for listing after the acquisition.

During February 2002, a secured creditor attached Cyberhost`s Web hosting client base. In March that year the directors requested the immediate suspension of trade in Cyberhost`s securities and commenced with the investigation of various restructuring initiatives.

The company completed a formal settlement with its creditors on 3 December last year and has continued limited trading through the licensing of resellers, the first being Exteq Realtime Systems.

The Top Restaurants and Intranet deals offer the company access to Web-based software specific to the restaurant industry with hosting possibilities and an initial client base, says Human.

Cyberhost achieved a net profit of R103 000 for the year to December, on revenue of R70 000 and other income of R43 000. It reported attributable and headline earnings of 0.1c a share.

At the end of June it had a net asset value and net tangible asset value of -0.14c a share.