Johannesburg - Comparex Africa, the major operating arm of listed Comparex Holdings, is to be renamed Business Connexion following black participation in the information technology (IT) group.
"Our decision to adopt the name of our empowerment partner reaffirms our commitment to embracing transformation," Peter Watt, the chief executive of the new Business Connexion, said yesterday.
Last November Business Connexion Investments (BCI) acquired a 25.01 percent stake in the African operations of Comparex Holdings. The transaction enabled Comparex Africa to merge with Business Connexion Solutions Holdings, a subsidiary of BCI.
Watt said the group had secured several deals in the private and public sector through its merger with Business Connexion Solutions.
However, investors did not seem to like the name change, with the stock falling 4c to close at R4.85 yesterday.
Benjamin Mophatlane, the deputy chief executive of the new Business Connexion, said the rebranding of Comparex would be accepted because the new name was commercially viable and credible in the sector.
Comparex's brand will disappear in the market and the group will resurface as Business Connexion by the end of April.
Mophatlane said the completion of the merger of both businesses through the rebranding of Comparex had created the right platform for growth.
The group had already moved aggressively into other parts of the continent, such as Ethiopia.
Now the company had to continue to transform its business and embrace diversity.
"We will now take the new Business Connexion into the continent as a truly South African IT business," Mophatlane said.
Nkenke Kekana, Telkom's group executive for regulatory and public policy, will be a non-executive director. Kekana was the chairman of Business Connexion Solutions.
Three Business Connexion Solutions managers - Matthew Blewett, Isaac Mophatlane and Bridgman Sithole - will join the original executive committee of Comparex Africa to create a new executive committee.