SAB Zenzele Kabili, the new BEE scheme that will hold R5.4bn worth of AB InBev shares, will list on the JSE this month — a year late — after a crucial shareholder meeting was delayed due to Covid-19 restrictions.
SAB Zenzele is the largest broad-based BEE scheme in the history of SA’s fast-moving consumer goods sector, with a total maturation value of R9.7bn.
It was supposed to wind up in March 2020, with investors including black-owned tavern owners and SAB employees being paid out and then given the option to reinvest shares in the new scheme.
A shareholders’ meeting on payouts and reinvestment options was postponed last year. But shareholders did receive payouts as planned in 2020.
The SAB Zenzele board and SAB said in a statement on Tuesday that they “recognised at the time that such postponement of the payouts would have a significant negative impact on the expected cash flows of shareholders”.
Shareholders received 77.4% of their cash after costs and taxes. They will now take part in a digital meeting on May 10 to vote on reinvesting the 22.6% portion in the new scheme.
Those who reinvest their portion will be global shareholders in SAB’s owner, AB InBev, and will earn 25% of the dividends paid to the scheme annually.
Unlike the previous scheme, shareholders will not have to wait 10 years to sell shares or be paid out and will be able to trade shares immediately after the listing. Any black person can buy shares in the new scheme.
“We all want to build a prosperous future for ourselves and our families. At SAB, we understand that this takes hard work and good partnerships,” said SAB Zenzele chair Penuell Maduna.
The initial scheme, which was housed in a special purpose entity called SAB Zenzele, was launched in 2010 by SABMiller, which has since been taken over by AB InBev. The group sold about 8% of its local subsidiary to BEE investors, including the SAB Foundation, a trust focused on funding small businesses.
Investors injected a small amount of cash — a minimum of R100 for shares worth R50,000 and up to R25,000 for shares valued at R500,000 — and the rest was funded by dividends over the past 10 years. No external bank funding was required.
Retailer shareholders who invested R100 in 2010 will have received a total pretax payout of R77,518 when the transaction fully unwinds in May 2021.
With Karl Gernetzky
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