Johannesburg - Consolidated Glass (Consol), the packaging division of listed diversified food group AVI, would list on the JSE Securities Exchange in the last week of February, but this could be delayed until March 5 because of the exchange's three-week break at the end of the year, Mike Arnold, the managing director, said yesterday.
But the listing would definitely happen before AVI published its results in March.
Consol, which was previously listed, was absorbed into AVI in 1998 because of problems it was experiencing.
Sam Denoon-Stevens, AVI's investor relations manager, said these problems had now been rectified and Consol was ready to stand on its own two feet again.
"AVI is no longer a good parent for Consol as Consol's growth strategy includes expanding into Africa, which is not part of AVI's vision," Denoon-Stevens said.
Arnold said the unbundling process would be on a one-for-one share split. This means all AVI shareholders will get Consol shares. Consol will have a 100 percent free-float.
"Consol will be completely independent from AVI," Arnold said. "A new board will be appointed, but management will remain the same."
Institutional investor Old Mutual owns between 4 percent and 5 percent of AVI. The Public Investment Commissioners, which manages government workers' pension funds, has 11 percent.
Consol manufactures 627 000 tons of glass a year, which converts into 2.2 million units, accounting for 88 percent of its sales and 95 percent of its profit.
The leading South African glass manufacturer, it has 75 percent of the market share.
Its largest competitor is Nampak Glass. Consol also manufactures plastic, which accounts for 12 percent of its turnover and 5 percent of its profit. Since 2000, Consol has grown its turnover from R1.2 billion to R2.1 billion through volume growth.
Arnold said there were substantial growth opportunities in the wine industry and in the conversion of other food and beverage containers to glass.
"Growth for Consol Glass across all its categories will also be driven by increased volumes in major upstream markets as a result of gross domestic product growth," Arnold said.