All M-Tec shares sold to MH1

JASCO announced on Friday that it had agreed to sell its 51.1 percent shareholding in Malesela Taihan Electric Cable (M-Tec) to Malesela Holdings No 1 (MH1) in a deal worth R60 million. The technology group’s 51.1 percent share of the value of net assets of M-Tec as per Jasco’s most recently published results, the unaudited results for the six months to December 2014, was R183m. Jasco has been trying to offload its stake in the underperforming cable group for some time as part of its turnaround plans. MH1 is a wholly owned subsidiary of Community Investment Holdings (CIH), the 100 percent black-owned investment holding company established by Dr Anna Mokgokong and Joe Madungandaba in 1995. CIH is a major shareholder of Jasco. Jasco’s holding in the under-performing M-Tec had been under review since 2013. Discussions about a disposal had been started with Korea’s Taihan Electric Wire Company, which holds the remaining 48.9 percent of M-Tec, but had been delayed by “unexpected” management changes at Taihan in November 2013. Jasco said the disposal was in line with management’s focus on addressing underperforming business units and exiting from non-core and low value-adding businesses. The group said it would use proceeds from the transaction to strengthen its balance sheet and reduce interest costs. It said the sale would also free up significant executive management time to focus on the core operations of Jasco. Subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, the deal is effective as of June 30. – ANA