Black-owned fund management company Vantage Capital is to acquire 25.4% of JSE-listed Spescom for R20 million.
In terms of the deal Spescom will issue 20 million new shares to Vantage for cash. Spescom says in a notice to shareholders that the cash will be used mainly as expansion capital.
"In SA the company's business is substantially dependent on parastatal and quasi-governmental organisations including Telkom SA, Eskom, Transtel and a host of municipalities as well as major corporates," the company says.
"From investigations undertaken by Spescom during the past year and considering the pressures which have been brought to bear upon Spescom for not conforming to the black economic empowerment requirements of the aforementioned customers, management has determined that Spescom runs the risk of jeopardising future revenue from these markets and customers."
The company says it expects the empowerment partner to assist with transformation within Spescom, specifically relating to employment equity, affirmative procurement and attracting and retaining high-quality black professionals.
Vantage Capital is subsidiary of Vantage Group, which is 51% black owned, with a broad shareholding including a holding by Thusano Trust.
Although the price of the stake, at 100c a share, is at a substantial discount to recent prices of the Spescom share, the company says this is not unreasonable given the pressures related to not conforming with empowerment requirements.
The Spescom share closed at 164c on the JSE yesterday, up 5c or 33.3% from the previous close.
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