Durban - Grindrod, which is weighing up an international listing for its shipping operations, will announce a black empowerment partner for Grindrod Bank within a month.
Last year Grindrod bought the 50 percent stake it did not own in corporate property bank Marriott, and renamed it Grindrod Bank.
The group, which has interests in shipping and logistics, is also working on black economic empowerment (BEE) for other operations. Alan Olivier, Grindrod's chief executive, said yesterday: "Within the next month, 18 percent of Grindrod Bank will be in black hands."
According to Grindrod results released last week, Grindrod Bank more than doubled its earnings to R15 million in the year to December.
The bank's focus is investment banking, but it also has a deal with Net1 to provide a card-based wage payment system.
The group's other BEE plans are focused on its landside operations. Late last year the group put out a prospectus to potential BEE shareholders.
Empowerment will not be done at group level. Grindrod's strategy was to consolidate its existing BEE operations and expand them, Olivier said. He did not disclose the time frame.
The group's existing BEE operations include Grindrod J&J Logistics, a joint venture between J&J Group and Grindrod, which provides storage and distribution facilities for bulk and unitised cargo.
Meanwhile, Grindrod is still weighing up an offshore listing, which has been on the cards since late 2004. The idea is to list its international shipping business, possibly on the London Stock Exchange, and have a separate JSE listing for its southern African operations.
The local operations would include the shipping operations of Southern Tankers, Ocean Africa and the Island View Shipping parcel service. They would also include the terminal, logistics, rail and road transport businesses.
Local shipping services generated R83 million in earnings in the year to December, an increase of 8.3 percent. International shipping earned R783.7 million, up 14.2 percent.
On the landside, freight lifted earnings 94 percent to R127 million and the trading operations raised earnings 12.5 percent to R24.6 million.
Olivier said an international listing of the shipping business depended on board, shareholder and Reserve Bank approval. The decision to list offshore had not yet been made. "We would list in a market that understands shipping."
Patrice Rassou of Sanlam Investment Managers said spinning off the unit would result in "a company that's a lot more volatile than it was".
Olivier said the shipping business would have a market value of about R800 million, ranking it among the top half of the world's shipping companies.
Grindrod stock rose 3.07 percent to R17.80 yesterday. The industrial transportation sector fell 0.24 percent.