Transaction Capital said Friday its subsidiary Nutun planned to sell its stake in Nutun Australia Holdings to an Allegro Funds subsidiary for A$58.3 million (R724m).
The disposal comes at a time when Transaction Capital has been forced to change strategy, due to losses at its SA Taxi subsidiary, which has been impacted by structural problems in the minibus taxi industry. Part of this change to maximise shareholder value involves listing Transaction Capital’s other strong subsidiary, WeBuyCars.
Nutun Australia Holdings is mainly involved in debt collection and rehabilitation services and other Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services via its subsidiary, Recoveries Corporation Holdings (RCH), and it offers customer solutions from Nutun's South African facilities.
In the year to September 30, 2023, Nutun’s attributable earnings – which includes the Australian business – to the group increased to R436m, from R409m the year before, with revenue up at R4.1 billion from R1bn.
Nutun Australia Holdings holds 60% in RCH and owns a minority investment in Revive Financial Group. Nutun International in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nutun Holdings, a leading provider of a wide range of BPO and customer and debtor engagement services across a global client base.
Allegro is an Australian alternative investments company with about A$4bn (R50bn) assets under management.
Nutun had said in December it was reviewing operations to reposition or dispose of non-core assets, and it had decided to sell its Australian business, which includes operations in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
“The transaction will help streamline Nutun's operating structure as the business continues to strengthen its position in the global BPO services market and scale its outsourcing services across industries and geographies,” Transaction Capital’s director said.
Proceeds would be used to strengthen Nutun's balance sheet, providing it with the ability to pursue local and international growth opportunities in both its capital-light and capital-enabled business units, they said.
For the year to September 30, 2023, Nutun Australia Holdings’ taxed profit amounted to R8.2m. The net asset value was A$36.7m.
Transaction Capital’s board had said at the end of the last financial year that “in light of the events of the past year, management, with board oversight, has pivoted Transaction Capital’s corporate strategy... to unlock shareholder value”, while SA Taxi was undergoing a restructuring.
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