Choppies moves to take over Kamoso

According to filings made public by the Competition and Consumer Authority this week, CDC, which is Choppies’ operations unit in Botswana, hopes to secure approval for the Kamoso takeover which will grant access to the group’s well-known divisions such as Liquorama, Builders Mart, Mediland, Lemepe, Mont Catering and Refrigeration and others.

At present, Kamoso is owned by private equity units linked to Rand Merchant Bank and Ninety One (formerly Investec), the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) as well as Ramachandran and Narayanan Ottapathu. CDC’s proposed transaction appears to involve taking over all the shareholding not currently owned by the BDC.

The latest developments mark another turn in the evolution of Kamoso Africa, after Choppies directors, Ramachandran Ottapathu and Farouk Ismail in 2015 sold most of their holdings in the diversified group to a consortium led by Standard Chartered Private Equity in a deal worth P452 million.

In 2017, Stanchart Private Equity sold its stake to the private equity units of Rand Merchant Bank and Investec Asset Management, which in turn shaved off 24% of this in 2020 to the BDC.