Johannesburg - Businessman Marcel Golding had bought a 20-percent stake in JSE Altx-listed financial services group Vunani Limited for R48 million, Vunani said on Friday.
Golding bought, through privately-held family investment holding company Geomer Investments, 30 million shares at R1.60 a share. Vunani said the purchase would be settled in cash.
The deal makes Geomer the group’s second-largest shareholder, after Vunani Group’s holding of 79.4 million shares, which is majority owned and controlled by the founders of Vunani Limited.
“The investment by Marcel will result in a strategic partnership and a closer alignment of interests, which will ultimately enhance the development and growth of Vunani as a financial services group. The additional funding will be deployed to take advantage of growth opportunities, as well as optimise existing businesses,” Vunani chief executive Ethan Dube said.
In 2014, Golding, a former trade unionist, left Hosken Consolidated Investments, a black economic empowerment firm he helped build over about 20 years. Vunani shares closed unchanged at R1.70 on Friday.
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