Business person Sandile Zungu’s outfit, Zungu Investments Company, and Mergence Investment Managers have invested in SA’s only privately owned coal-fired power station, Kelvin Power Station.
The Competition Commission on Friday said it had approved the purchase of Aldwych by an outfit called Harith InfraCo — whose shareholders are the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF); Development Bank of Southern Africa, Mergence, Zungu Investments and Harith General Partners.
Harith and the GEPF, via its asset manager the Public Investment Corporation are not new investors in Aldwych.
Aldwych is an investment holding company which invests in assets that generate and deliver energy in various countries across Africa. According to the commission, Aldwych is jointly controlled by PAIDF 2, PAIDF 1, and Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund 2.
Aldwych directly and indirectly controls a few companies in SA such as Levoca, which has an interest in Kelvin Holdings, an investment outfit which holds shares in Kelvin Power Station.
“The commission is of the view that the proposed transaction is unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market. The proposed transaction does not raise public interest concerns,” it said in a statement.
Kelvin Power, located in the City of Ekurhuleni, is said to provide 10%-14% of Johannesburg’s power. It was originally commissioned in 1956 and until 2001 the power station was the property of the City of Johannesburg, but it has since been privatised and resold a number of times.
Harith, founded in 2006, is a developer of infrastructure assets across the African continent, managing more than $1bn of assets in energy, information and communications technology, water and sanitation, and transport.
Harith in October agreed to acquire a significant stake (46%) in Mergence Investment Managers, an institutional fund manager with a strong 19-year track record and capability across both private and public markets within the Southern African Development Community.
The deal also entailed the creation of an independent women-led group to own 5% of Mergence, boosting women’s participation in the infrastructure investment sector.
Established in the mid-2000s, Mergence has grown to an entity that manages about R37bn worth of assets. It offers a diverse product range spanning specialist equity and fixed income, multi-asset, infrastructure, debt and private equity funds.
Zungu Investments already has a significant exposure to coal via its investment in Seriti, one of Eskom’s biggest suppliers.
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