MONDAY, 11.00AM
BLACK empowerment group Worldwide African Investment Holdings has wrapped up a surprise R400-million deal to acquire control of the R1,4-billion-a-year petrol retailer Zenex Oil.
Worldwide on Friday confirmed that it had, together with a consortium including Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank and Zenex management, bought Zenex Oil from Zenex Trust. Worldwide already owns 52 Afric Oil retail outlets which it bought from Caltex. The group will hold 51% of Zenex Oil, and has pre-emptive rights to increase its stake.
It is believed Zenex Trust had originally planned to sell all of Zenex Oil to management and, when Worldwide joined the race later, it was only offered 25%. It is believed some shrewd negotiation was done to get control for Worldwide after coming in from the cold.
Zenex was created from the assets of US oil company Exxon, when it divested from SA in 1986. Zenex owns 150 petrol retail stations, 20 depots, a lubricant blending plant, and a stake in a marine bunker. The company has annual sales of 660-million litres of petrol a year.
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