Johannesburg - Mustek, the PCs distributor, said late on Friday it had acquired the national training division of The Connection Group which included Training Connection and The Zone Computer Career Campus, for R18 million.
Gary Chalmers, the founder of the Training Connection, joined Mustek and initiated the acquisition.
Two months ago, The Connection Group said it had sold the division to Datatec for R79,9 million, which was expected to help the financially troubled group to restructure and strengthen its retail and solutions divisions, and to axe the training division, which had incurred losses.
This deal fell through in August and the group said it had ended discussions about the sale after Datatec wanted to change details of the transaction.
Pierre Joubert, the chief executive of The Connection Group, said the transaction concluded the disposal of the company`s entire training division comprising UK-based Comtec, Training Connection and the Zone, for a combined price of R88,7 million.
The group said last month it would hold on to its local operations because it believed it would return to profitability in the next year.
David Kan, the chief executive of Mustek, said the Training Connection acquisition was another step towards implementing Mustek`s strategy of moving up the value chain.
"Mustek`s core philosophy is to be a provider of technology and services to the Information Technology (IT) industry and the provision of IT training is an integral part of this mission," he said.
This sale also means that The Connection Group could pay off its overdraft and head back into a positive bank balance.
In the group`s year-end results released a week ago, the overdraft was about R7 million and current liabilities amounted to R263,8 million.
Exceptional items showed a R5,7 million loss which Joubert said would have been worse if ComTec in the UK had not been disposed of.
The Connection share lost 1c on Friday to close at 18c, while Mustek gained favour to close 28c stronger at R6,99.