AMB Holdings (AMB), the South African listed banking group, said on Tuesday it was making progress in deciding on a black economic empowerment (BEE) partner to participate in the Heywood Investments consortium now holding 24 million AMB shares.
In an update to its announcement of March 17, AMB said Heywood Investments had been formed as a legal entity, and had acquired a further 9 million AMB shares from various parties, so that its total shareholding now stood at 24 million shares, or about 20,6% of AMB’s total shares in issue.
The acquisition of the 24 million shares was warehoused and is being financed by Investec Bank on commercial terms “normally associated with a transaction of this nature,” the bank added.
AMB confirmed that it expected that Heywood shareholders would include members of AMB’s current management team and a value-adding BEE partner. The bank had been meeting with various empowerment groups with a view to their participation in Heywood, and a short list of potential partners identified. The terms of reference for participation had also been prepared, it said.
The board of directors of AMB re-emphasised that it was “fully supportive” of the bank’s BEE efforts and had appointed an independent sub-committee of the board to oversee the process, including the allocation of the shareholding in Heywood, “to ensure the final structure is one that adds value to AMB and is in the best interests of all its stakeholders”.
AMB shares were last quoted on the JSE Securities Exchange SA at R6,07, unchanged from Friday’s close after the Freedom Day holiday on Monday. – I-Net Bridge