Prism Holdings has raised the value of its black economic empowerment deal and altered the mechanism that will see Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC) acquire a stake in the group.
Prism announced last year that MIC would acquire a 16.89% stake in the group through a newly incorporated company, BEECo.
In terms of that deal, BEECo would buy 16.89 Prism shares for every 100 Prism shares held by each Prism shareholder, at 36c a share.
The aggregate purchase price of R36 million is to be funded through a combination of vendor finance, funds from MIC and third-party funding.
However, the group says it decided to change the mechanism after talks with MIC and certain key shareholders.
The deal will now see BEECo, which will initially be a Prism subsidiary, buy 100 million Prism shares by making a pro rata offer to Prism shareholders to acquire 16.89 shares for every 100 shares held. The price now will be 40c a share.
Prism CFO Jan Hnizdo says the additional R4 million funding will be borne by increasing the preference share subscription to be made by Prism from R18 million to R22 million.
"We chose to increase our offer to shareholders to obtain certainty for the transaction, and at 40c we have it. We have obtained commitment from shareholders to sell back sufficient numbers of their shares on a voluntary basis to enable the transaction to be concluded."
Prism says the revised structure, which sees the deal being implemented by way of a pro rata repurchase of shares instead of a scheme of arrangement, has several advantages.
Among these is the fact that shareholder participation is voluntary. It also avoids the cost and complexity of a scheme and provides certainty in relation to the implementation of the deal.
The deal is expected to be closed in April, subject to shareholder approval.
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