Roy Cokayne
Listed road construction and rehabilitation company Raubex has acquired Tosas, a leading manufacturer and distributor of value-added bituminous products, from Sasol Oil for R120 million.
Rudolf Fourie, the chief executive of Raubex, said yesterday that the transaction included all of Tosas’s assets and properties as well as its 168 employees and a five-year agreement with Sasol to supply bitumen, which is primarily used for road construction activities.
The transaction will significantly boost Raubex’s turnover. Tosas posted revenue of R750m last year.
The purchase price would be settled in cash, Raubex said. The acquisition represented a strong strategic fit for it as an integrated road construction and rehabilitation company operating across southern Africa.
Raubex added that all necessary regulatory approvals, including that of the Competition Commission, had been received and the acquisition would be effective from April 26.
Fourie said Tosas’s assets included bitumen processing and storage facilities in Germiston, Bloemfontein, Worcester, Cape Town, Vryburg, Namibia and Botswana.
The acquisition follows Raubex’s confirmation in November that it was investing R21m in storage facilities for asphalt to cushion it from bitumen shortages in the country.
Fourie said there were several reasons Raubex had acquired Tosas, including its aim to be vertically integrated and to supply itself with all the materials, from bitumen to stone, that it needed for its road construction and rehabilitation activities.
He said the transaction was also aimed at securing a supply of, and storage facilities for, bitumen because Raubex believed there would always be shortages in the country and it would still have to be imported.
Fourie stressed that to import bitumen, a company needed to order in volume and have its own storage facilities. The acquisition included the bitumen storage facilities owned by Tosas. He said Tosas would supply valued-added bituminous products to Raubex and the external market.
Fourie said Tosas had the capacity to supply 100 000 tons a year, but was not using all of its capacity and last year provided 64 000 tons to the market. He said Tosas sold bitumen to smaller entities that were unable to buy the product directly from the oil companies and this would continue to be a big part of its business.
Raubex fell 2.1 percent to R19.