Following its unbundling from the Fidelity Services Group in March this year, Fidelity Supercare Services Group has announced the sale of a 25%-plus-one-share equity stake to Zungu Investments Company (Zico), a 100% black-owned and -managed company led by entrepreneur Sandile Zungu.
Fidelity Supercare Services Group is South Africa’s second-largest cleaning company with an annual turnover of R450-million.
The company is one of the three former subsidiaries of the unbundled Fidelity Services Group, which consisted of Fidelity Cash Management Services, Fidelity Supercare Cleaning Services and Fidelity Springbok Security Services.
According to group chairperson Robert Dickerson, the three specialised companies had enjoyed phenomenal growth in recent years and had built sufficient operational capacity that allowed them to become autonomous strategic business units independent of the holding company.
In March this year, the unbundling process was initiated and the holding company dissolved. Fidelity Supercare Services Group was restructured to allow greater equity participation by management and to ensure that empowerment partners became directly involved in the mainstream of the operational business as against passive ownership in a far-removed holding company.
According to Philip Kruger, chief executive of Fidelity Supercare Services Group, his management team embarked on a rigorous and intense process to engage a suitable black economic empowerment (BEE) partner for its business, and Zico was the obvious choice because of its long-standing relationship with Fidelity and track record in the industry.
“Taking all things into account, we believed that Zico understood and shared our belief in a BEE partner that would, alongside management, play an active role in the operations of the company.”
The business association between Fidelity and Zico dates back several years, through their joint-venture cleaning company, Isikhonyane Cleaning. The joint venture was established in 1997 to explore both parties’ interest in specialist cleaning opportunities.
To date, Isikhonyane Cleaning, which will be unaffected by the transaction, has grown into a fully-fledged revenue-generating business making significant contribution to the businesses of both parties.
Zungu said of his acquisition: “Buying in excess of 25% of Fidelity Supercare represents a great opportunity for us to become a significant player in the services sector. As an active shareholder, we now have an opportunity to put our cleaning experience to maximum advantage, and with Fidelity Supercare Services Group’s critical mass infrastructure, we will take our services sector presence to dizzy heights.”
Fidelity Supercare Services Group will continue to provide a full spectrum of professional cleaning, hygiene and labour-outsourced services nationally. The company attributes its growing success to its superior service delivery and its highly trained personnel, a complement of 16 000, of which 97% are black and 59% women.
Its clientele profile ranges from universities, national airports, hospitals, hotels, industrial facilities, offices and office parks to retail stores and shopping complexes.
The new shareholding structure will be as follows: Zico (25% plus one share), Supercare Management (25%) and the remaining shares to be held equally between Dickerson Investments and Corvest 6.
Zungu will become the non-executive chairperson of the expanded board, which will further comprise an additional non-executive director from Zico, two non-executive directors from Corvest and two non-executive directors from Dickerson Investments, while the current chief executive, Philip Kruger, will be the only executive director. — I-Net Bridge