Johannesburg - There are signs of growing concern about the terms of Premier`s disposal of its two remaining businesses, United Pharmaceutical Holdings and Teltron, to consortiums that include the executive directors of Premier.
Minority shareholders claimed that a more appropriate pricing of the two assets would have added about R200 million to Premier`s liquidation value.
The two deals will be finalised as part of the proposal to put Premier into voluntary liquidation. A shareholders meeting to approve the necessary resolutions will be held in Johannesburg later this week.
Short-term investors in Premier, who see it as an unbundling play, appear to be satisfied with the process by which the executives have disposed of all of the group`s operations.
"The Teltron deal doesn`t look too attractive but they got good prices for Bonnita and Premier`s maize and wheat business," said one analyst who was tracking the share as a net asset value play.
The financial 1999 annual report reveals that Doug Band, Ian Heron, John Sturgeon and Leon Schonknecht, the four executive directors, each received R1,4 million in managerial fees for 1999. This is 65 percent more than the R850 000 paid to each of the executive directors in financial 1996, when Premier was a substantially larger group.
"Despite the marked lack of success the executive directors had in growing the group, they opted to reward themselves generously," remarked one disappointed minority shareholder.
In terms of the proposed liquidation, there is no provision for shareholders to authorise directors` emoluments that will be paid for activities undertaken between the April 30 year end and the date of the company`s winding up this month.
The terms of the liquidation process are unlikely to be changed, as they have received the support of the major shareholders, Liberty Life and Johnnic.