Mustek Limited, South Africa`s largest assembler and distributor of personal computers, has appointed Taita Holdings as its corporate advisor. Taita is a development capital fund headed by leading technology analyst Dr Duarte da Silva.
Mustek Chief Executive David Kan said Taita`s role will include equity participation by the specialist technology house. He said the objectives of the alliance are for Taita to assist Mustek in identifying potential local and international acquisitions; the completion of the disposal of non-core assets; determining future strategic direction, particularly e-commerce initiatives; the introduction of appropriate business partners; the provision of structuring expertise and other broad-based corporate advisory services.
Duarte da Silva has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director on Mustek`s Board of Directors with effect from 1 February 1999, with Terence Craig as his alternate.
Taita Holdings, established in August 1998 by African Harvest, Peregrine Holdings and Duarte da Silva, was appointed corporate advisors for technology company Accord Technologies late last year. Da Silva said the alliance with Mustek again demonstrated that Taita`s expertise was not restricted to private equity. `The prime rationale for equity participation resides rather in our ability to add value, and not adopting a passive investment stance`, he said.
David Kan of Mustek said Taita`s involvement in the deployment of Mustek`s strategic vision was timely as Mustek was currently in a strong growth phase - for the first six months of its new financial year, sales to corporate and public sectors increased by 243%. `With Taita coming on board, I intend to ensure that we exploit our growth potential to the full without losing sight of the group`s core focus area, which has made it so successful`, said David Kan.
Duarte da Silva said he was excited about Taita`s partnership with Mustek. `I believe Mustek has enormous potential to capitalise on its distribution infrastructure, embrace electronic commerce and internationalise what has become a very successful business model. I look forward to serving on the Mustek board with some of this country`s finest entrepreneurs in the persons of David Kan, Mike Hennessy, Gordon Schachat and Chris Wood`, he said.
Mustek will be releasing its half-year results on Monday 1 March 1999.
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