Heaps of optimism needed

The proposal suggests Trustco is not able to tap its other big shareholders or secure attractive funding from banks

Controversial Namibian businessman Quinton van Rooyen has made an inauspicious start in his bid to provide up to R1bn in funding for Trustco, the Jse-listed investment company where Van Rooyen is the largest shareholder with an effective 55% stake.

The company, founded in Namibia in 1992 and listed on the JSE in 2009, bills itself as a “high-growth Namibian-based company with a core focus in insurance and investments”.

Trustco has been under the governance spotlight for months for many reasons, including a series of odd related-party deals between Trustco and Van Rooyen, who is also its CEO.

Last year, the FM reported that Trustco proposed restructuring its debt and capitalising its new diamond mining ventures, through a complicated scheme that would see Van Rooyen raise loan funding by selling part of his shareholding to current shareholders and new investors. Van Rooyen would then lend the proceeds to Trustco with an option to be repaid in cash and scrip … or even write off the loan.

It is difficult not to view the proposal in an ominous light. For one thing, it suggests the group is unable to tap its other large shareholders (specifically the investment entities associated with US investor Sean Riskowitz) or secure attractive funding from commercial banks.

Van Rooyen’s envisaged “interest only” loan stipulates that Trustco must repay him in one bullet payment, in cash, at the end of March 2024 … unless the Van Rooyen family, via Next

Trustco has been under the governance spotlight for months for many reasons, including a series of odd related-party deals