FRIDAY, 10.00AM:
Bankers Capital Alliance have bought Decimax, days after the derivative traders lost R30-million in the stock market crash. In the R80-million deal, Decimax management’s holdings have been cut from 65% to 30%, with Capital Alliance in control of the balance. Financial services firm Theta sold its 35% stake to Capital Alliance for R30-million after bailing out Decimax last week.
Capital Alliance has pumped R50-million into the firm and given Decimax management pre-emptive rights to buy back its stake in two to four years.
”Decimax is one of the leaders in financial products design, blemished only by [last week’s] mistake but arguably more mature for it,” Capital Alliance CEO Mark Barnes told Business Day on Thursday. Decimax, according to Business Day, misread futures-market volatility. It used its capital reserves to clean up its futures book, then closed up its position and sold the book to Capital Alliance.