Tiger to continue unbundling its remaining shares in Oceana Group

TIGER Brands is set to unbundle the remaining 49.1 million shares, which represents a 36.2 percent stake in the fishing company, Oceana Group, to its shareholders. The move comes after Tiger Brands reduced its stake in Oceana from 42.1 percent by selling a 5.9 percent stake to Brimstone for R581 million last month.

The sale enabled Brimstone’s stake in Oceana to increase to 22.88 percent. Brimstone has a long history with Oceana, having invested in the group for 23 years.

Tiger Brands has indicated before that it would sell the remaining stake in the second quarter of this year.

“On April 3, the board formally approved the unbundling of the remaining 49.1 million shares that the company holds in Oceana, equating to about 36.2 percent of the issued share capital of Oceana,” the group said on Friday.

Tiger Brands embarked on a comprehensive strategic review in 2016, which has resulted in the design of a new operating model to drive its growth objectives.

The strategy was implemented in 2017, which has resulted in the group focusing on its core activities.

With the new strategy firmly in place, the group has set about growing the business and exiting non-core assets, which was set in motion by selling the 8 million shares to Brimstone which was concluded last month.

Tiger Brands informed its shareholders that in terms of clause 34 of the memorandum of incorporation and the JSE Listings Requirements pertaining to the unbundling of shares, shareholder approval is not required to implement the unbundling.

“In addition, the unbundling does not constitute a disposal in terms of section 112 of the Companies Act. Accordingly, Tiger Brands shareholders are not required to vote on the unbundling,” the group said.

It added that the implementation was not subject to the fulfilment or waiver of any suspensive conditions.

The group said the unbundled of shares would be distributed to Tiger Brands shareholders by way of a distribution, such that each shareholder would receive 25.87 unbundled shares for every 100 held in Tiger Brands.

“(This) will result in Tiger Brands shareholders holding a direct equity interest in Oceana rather than through Tiger Brands,” the group said.

Tiger Brands share price closed 0.40 percent higher at R266.57 on the JSE on Friday.