Sefalana seeks P351m for expansion drive
Isaac Pinielo | Tuesday October 18, 2016 17:59
Recently, the company expressed its intention to grow its Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) businesses in both Botswana and Namibia.
In a press announcement to shareholders last week, finance director, Mohamed Osman said the company is raising approximately P351m net of expenses, by way of a rights issue of 27,858,523 offer shares.
“The offer shares are being offered by way of a rights issue to shareholders on the register. For every eight shares held, one offer share goes at P12.60 and so in proportion for any greater number of shares held,” he stated.
He said any allocation of offer shares that would result in fractional entitlements will be dealt with in two manners. The first one being that if the fraction is less than one-half of an offer share it will be rounded down to the nearest whole number.
The second is that if the fraction is equal to or greater than one-half of an offer share, it will be rounded up to the nearest whole number.
In addition, Osman noted that the Sefalana major shareholders have been approached to sign irrevocable undertakings to subscribe for any excess shares that have not been subscribed for by way of the rights issue, adding that on this basis the issue is expected to be fully subscribed.
“The offer shares will, when issued and fully paid, rank pari passu in all respects with the shares now in issue,” he said.
He said application to the Botswana Stock Exchange has been made to list the renounceable letters of allocation and the subsequent offer shares.
Sefalana is also planning to re-launch Delta Fresh milk and other dairy products by the end of year. The dairy plant which was purchased July last year, started production in December and is currently supplying A Star brand of milk to Sefalana stores.
Sefalana also completed the P4.6 million acquisition of the fruit juice plant from Golden Fruit 97 (Pty) Limited, the move which was expected to complement the group’s entry into manufacturing segment.
Meanwhile, the company announced that it will continue to seek additional suitable locations for further store openings as they move towards their long-term target of 70 stores across Botswana. It added that there are currently a number of stores that they are looking to open in the next 18 months.
At the KSI site, it said, the company has built four warehouses of 1,000 square metres each and that they are in the process of building a fifth.
The group said it has also concluded on the purchase of the 40,000 square metres site at Setlhoa where they intend to carry out a significant development in the forthcoming year.