eBusiness Weekly
HARARE – The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange has extended the suspension of CFI Holdings to the beginning of next month in a move aimed to give the bourse time to investigate the irregularities around trading of the companies’ shares.
The move will also give CFI additional time to comply with ZSE’s demands, which came with the suspension.
The agro-industrial group was suspended from the local bourse for three months on January 2, 2018
“The… suspension period has been prolonged by a further 30 days to May 02 2018,” said ZSE acting CEO Martin Matanda in a statement today.
“The extension is to allow the ZSE, through its regulator, to engage CFI on certain matters which occurred during the intervening period following the initial suspension on January 2 2018,”
The January 2018 suspension was the second since 2016.
On January 29, 2016, CFI was suspended after it failed to publish its financials for the year ended September 30, 2015 despite being granted permission to report them a month after the deadline.
With regards to the suspension that has been extended, the ZSE had requested that CFI comply with certain requirements under the listing requirements.
These included compliance with free float requirements as per Section 4 paragraph 4.25 (d) of the Listing Requirements, as well as the addressing of governance related matters regarding the appointment of a substantive board chair, chief executive officer and finance director.
The ZSE had also requested the company to appoint independent non-executive directors who were not affiliated to or have any association with any of the company’s shareholders.
CFI has been involved in a long-standing shareholder squabble involving major shareholders Stalap Investments and Messina Investments.
The parties control 41 percent and 42 percent of the agro-processing company, respectively.
The latter coordinated the removal of directors linked to Stalap Investment last December.
Earlier in the year, the bourse ruled that a counter offer by Messina Investments to buy out CFI Holdings minority shareholders as irregular since it had not been informed that the company had passed the 35 percent shareholding threshold which compels it to make a mandatory offer to minorities.
This was after Messina Investments had published a notice saying that it now held 42 percent shareholding in CFI and offered to purchase shares from minority shareholders at 46 cents per share exclusive of charges.
The offer by Messina was a counter on the offer made by another major shareholder, Stalap which holds a 41 percent stake in CFI.
Stalap, an investment vehicle owned by Zimre Holdings and the National Social Security Authority, offered to buy out CFI minorities for 22 cents per share.
“The investing public is advised that the ZSE has not been formally advised that Messina and any other parties it is acting in concert with has passed the 35 percent threshold which compels them to make an offer to the minorities in term of the ZSE listing requirements.
“The ZSE views the notice by Messina as an unsanctioned informal offer to minorities and therefore non-compliant with the ZSE’s listing requirements,” said Matanda at the time.
