A special purpose consortium – Newco – comprising a Saudi Arabian group and a company linked to current CEO Dominic Sewela, has announced its intent to acquire diversified industrial group Barloworld.
This should lead to the delisting of the group on the JSE, and will form a black-owned, privately-held South African company, based in the domestic market.
The consortium of investors says they will make an offer to acquire all the issued and to-be-issued shares in Barloworld, other than those held by the excluded shareholders, for cash.
The offer price is R120 a share, which will not be reduced for the R3.10-a-share dividend that was recently declared by Barloworld.
This offer values the group at R23-billion.
Newco is owned by Entsha, a newly incorporated South African company, ultimately traced back to Sewela and his family, and by Gulf Falcon Holding, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zahid Tractor & Heavy Machinery Co. and a member of the Zahid Group.
Entsha will exercise 51% the voting rights in the newly established company.
Newco believes the involvement of Entsha should allow the consortium to continue to drive future growth and support management’s strategic objectives for the business.
The proposed transaction is said to also align with the Zahid Group’s strategy to expand and diversify its portfolio.
The Zahid Group has been a long-term shareholder of Barloworld.
Caterpillar has expressed its support for the implementation of the proposed transaction.
The 122-year-old Barloworld, as US brand Caterpillar’s dealer in Southern Africa and Russia, has been hit hard recently by trade restrictions imposed on Russia by countries such as the US and others, for its invasion of Ukraine.
