Johannesburg - Aveng, the construction company that listed on the JSE this
week, has offloaded its 10 percent stake, equivalent to R1,6 million, in
the voting shares of Fraser Alexander, Carl Grim, Aveng`s managing
director, confirmed yesterday.
The company had a right to sell back the shares at the same price as they
were bought. It has not yet been decided to whom the share bloc will be
sold.
Buyers could include a third party or executive directors of the company,
said Les Maxwell, Fraser``s financial director.
Earlier this year Fraser Alexander, the industrial holding company, had
been unhinged by discord between executive and non-executive directors,
with non-executives vying for a change in management.
Brait Merchant Bank and Brait Turnarounds were brought in by the
non-executive consortium to make a play for Fraser. Market understanding,
however, is that it never made a formal bid for the company.
Analysts said if the executives got hold of the share bloc it would
strengthen their position relative to the non-executives.
Brait acted on behalf of a consortium of Gary Rae and Fred Stokes, two
former Fraser directors and the Daly family, a long-standing shareholder.
In March this year, Fralex, Fraser Alexander``s holding company, issued 1,6
million voting shares to AVI, the diversified holding company, giving it
an effective 9,1 percent vote in Fralex, which was subsequently unbundled.
AVI has since split into two separate companies including Aveng, which
holds 58 percent of Grinaker.
Grinaker had been discussing a merger between its businesses and those of
Fraser for about a year. Earlier this week Grinaker and Fraser decided to
terminate the proposed merger on completion of a due diligence. It is
understood the deal was scuppered by technical engineering details.
Dennis McIntosh, Fraser Alexander``s chief executive, has said previously
that Grinaker would be the most attractive option for the company, and that
was why the shares were issued to AVI.
Fraser closed unchanged yesterday at R2,60.