PBT Group wants to reverse list into former retail giant Wooltru, which would make the company the first IT listing on the Johannesburg bourse in two years.
The most recent listing in the IT sector was Poynting Holdings, on 9 July 2008. In the telecoms sector, the most recent listing was when Vodacom was unbundled last year.
Wooltru says the deal would involve it buying out all of PBT through issuing 5.1 billion shares. The shell company's stock is currently flat at 7c. Once the deal has gone through, PBT will own 35% of Wooltru.
Wooltru, until the late 1990s, was SA's largest retailer and owned Massmart, Woolworths, CNA and Truworths. With the exception of CNA, which is owned by Edcon, all the other companies are now listed in their own right.
PBT has two subsidiaries: PBT Technology Services and PBT Infosight. It also owns all of Stricklands Tetra Cape and 51% of PBT Insurance Technologies. PBT plays in the business intelligence and information management space and has clients in SA and Australia.
So far, just more than 40% of Wooltru shareholders, which are mainly institutional investors, have agreed to the deal. However, there are several conditions precedent and the deal has yet to be wrapped up.
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However, because the acquisition is seen as a reverse takeover, the JSE will treat it as if it was a new listing.
Wooltru's share issue is dependent on PBT reaching pre-tax profit of at least R32 million for the year to February 2011. The amount of shares to be issued may vary depending on whether PBT meets this target.
Absa Investments analyst Chris Gilmour says the deal is an “elegant solution to change Wooltru's status”. He adds that it is often cheaper to reverse list than to seek a new listing.
PBT declined to comment yesterday, referring ITWeb to shareholder announcements in the public domain.
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