Dawn receives a firm offer to buy and delist the company

FINANCIALLY-troubled Distribution and Warehousing Network (Dawn) has received a firm offer to acquire all the shares held in the listed manufacturer and distributor of plumbing and hardware brands, which, if successful, would lead to its delisting from the JSE.

Dawn said yesterday the firm offer had been received from Polanofield, a South African company owned by Derek Tod and Luis Gonsalves Baeta.

Tod, the founder chief executive of Dawn, who stepped down from this position in May 2016, directly or indirectly holds 1.85 percent of the ordinary share capital of Dawn and Baeta 0.0017 percent.

Polanofield plans to acquire the entire issued ordinary share capital of Dawn through a scheme of arrangement in terms of the Companies Act for a cash consideration of 1c a share.

In a joint announcement, the two companies said despite progress made with Dawn’s turnaround strategy, the company faced liquidity constraints according to an extensive evaluation of all the funding alternatives that had been considered. “In this regard, the board of directors of Dawn is of the opinion that the offer is the most viable alternative,” they said.

Dawn highlighted in July the risk economic conditions posed to the group’s turnaround. By the end of the following month, it said economic conditions had deteriorated further.

Shares in Dawn closed unchanged at 22c on the JSE yesterday.