Sagarmatha listing ‘derailed by media’
Vunani CEO Ethan Dube has voiced support for Iqbal Survébacked Sagarmatha Technologies, blaming the media for derailing the group’s listing.
Vunani, which offers asset management, investment banking and stockbroking services, was the sponsor and transaction adviser to Sagarmatha’s proposed JSE listing.
The listing attracted scrutiny because it valued the company, which reported a loss for the year to end-December and had a net asset value of 33.92c a share, at R49.7bn — a per share value of R39.62
Dube, however, said that Sagarmatha still had “good businesses in the IT space”.
The JSE, which initially approved the listing, backtracked after Sagarmatha failed to submit financial statements to the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission.
“The JSE did grant the company a listing and then decided to pull the listing. I think there was a lot of noise in the papers, and I think that created what we then saw after that,” said Dube, speaking for the first time on Sagarmatha, following Vunani’s annual financial results.
Vunani had at all times done the right thing as sponsor and transaction adviser, he said.
Vunani, a black-owned financial services group, posted double-digit growth in revenue, profit and assets for the year to February 2017.
Vunani Fund Managers grew assets by R5bn to R20.9bn, making it a top five blackowned asset manager. “I would be surprised by the end of May if we are not managing more than R25bn [in assets],” he said.
Vunani would continue a strategy of using its private equity assets, including in mining and property, to strengthen its balance sheet. Its 6.2c per share dividend was deliberately cautious, as it was eyeing one or two acquisitive deals in the financial services space, he said.
Dube believed that the group’s Clifton property development, over which residents are challenging the City of Cape Town, would go ahead. Vunani was also considering a property deal in Johannesburg.
It had reported to the JSE “highly unusual” trading in its share, which fell 58% on April 13. The share, which is highly illiquid, has since largely recovered.