South Africa’s largest listed wine and spirits producer Distell on Wednesday announced that it had entered into an empowerment deal with a broad-based black empowerment consortium to be led by women’s empowerment group Wiphold.
The BEE consortium will take a 15% stake in South African Distilleries and Wines (SADW), Distell’s wholly owned subsidiary that holds all of the company’s operations, for R869,4-million.
The cost of the proposed empowerment transaction equated to about 1,97% of Distell’s market capitalisation on Tuesday, which compared favourably with other recent empowerment transactions, Distell said.
Wiphold is a company driven by a dedication to the empowerment of women, and black women in particular.
The new consortium, formed through a company named WIP Beverages, comprises all Distell employees, with a 45% stake, Wiphold, with a 40% stake, and a
corporate social investment trust (CSI Trust), with 15%, created to benefit disadvantaged communities in the areas where Distell conducts most of its
activities — namely South Africa’s winelands.
To fund the acquisition, the consortium will issue preference shares to Distell, which will pay a dividend equal to CPIX (headline consumer inflation less mortgage costs) plus 7%.
Dividends received by the BEE consortium on its investment in SADW will be used to fund the preference dividend and to service the debt over the period of the transaction. At that time, the consortium will have the right to exchange its shares in SADW for shares in Distell.
The employee share ownership plan (ESOP) will allocate shares to all qualifying Distell employees not already participating in share option schemes.
About 67% of the company’s personnel are from an historically disadvantaged background.
Although all qualifying staff will participate equally regardless of position or seniority, additional shares will be made available to staff members with more than five years of service.
Wiphold will nominate two directors to the Distell board. They will be imparting their experience in best practice and transformation based on involvement with the other companies in which Wiphold is invested.
The CSI Trust is currently being formed and will be overseen by independent trustees, Distell said. Its focus would be on communities with which Distell works closely. Further details of the trust would be announced in 2006. – I-Net Bridge