One of South Africa’s oldest investment holding firms, Tradek, broke new ground on Thursday this week when it announced a 70% acquisition of its equity by black empowerment consortium Tlotlisa.
The deal is the largest empowerment deal to date in terms of acquired proportion in the financial services sector.
Concluded at Tradek’s delisting price of R22-million, the deal is worth R15,4-million. Tlotlisa comprises five empowerment groups led by Sello Rasethaba (pictured above), who becomes executive chairperson of the Tradek board. They include Matodzi Investment Holdings, a strategic resources investment company; youth empowerment group Lebede Investment Holdings; and two women’s empowerment groups, Khomelela and Dyambu, led by advocate Brenda Madumise.
Rasethaba was educated in the United Kingdom in the areas of accounting and finance. He has previously chaired the Transnet tender board and the State Information Technology Agency, and currently chairs advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi.
Tradek has interests in online trading, treasury and asset management. According to Madumise, the company will now expand its asset management interests with the acquisition of a black-owned asset management firm.
Rasethaba hailed Tradek as providing “a unique opportunity for significant and genuine BEE participation in the financial services industry”.