Transaction Capital offloads Nutun division in Australia

Investment holding company Transaction Capital has sold the Australian division of its debt collector and call centre operator Nutun, enabling the division to focus on what the group describes as the “capital light” parts of its business.

The group sold Nutun Australian Holdings to a subsidiary of private equity investor Allegro Funds for A$58.3m (R721m).

Nutun will still provide its call centre and customer relations support to the Australian business from SA, acting as a service provider. The deal does not require shareholder approval.

Transaction Capital, which owns the debt-laden taxi financier SA Taxi, said last year that problems at SA Taxi meant it could not raise sufficient funding or investor interest for Nutun, even though it is a separate business. SA Taxi is owed more than R17bn by taxi owners and has a R5.3bn debt that it is unable to service.

Transaction Capital said last year Nutun was reviewing its operations to reposition or sell noncore assets in line with the group’s strategy to maximise shareholder value.

Nutun wants to focus on offering customer service globally through its SA call centres.

Transaction Capital is unbundling used-car dealer WeBuyCars for a separate listing on the JSE on April 11. The sale of 8.1-million shares ahead of the listing and issuance of 40-million new shares has raised money to ensure Transaction Capital repays debt and removes crossdefault clauses that make the holding company liable for debt if SA Taxi defaults on further amounts outstanding.

In a private bookbuild last week, WeBuyCars raised R902.7m. The firm said the price paid suggests it will have a market cap of about R7.82bn.

On completion of the sale of the Australian business and unbundling of WeBuyCars, Transaction Capital will be left with Nutun SA and SA Taxi.