Specialist private credit investment management firm Greenpoint Capital has thrown its weight behind a BEE consortium’s bid to acquire a stake in Bidvest International Logistics (BIL).
Bidvest sold a 37.5% stake in BIL to a black women-owned consortium during the 2023 financial year, according to its latest annual report.
The BEE consortium is anchored by the Akhona Group, a 100% black women-owned investment company founded by Noluthando Gosa, a former Investec Bank investment banker who has held numerous board positions at blue-chip companies including MTN, Ninety One, ArcelorMittal SA and Sasfin Wealth.
“At BIL, we are pleased to have partnered with Akhona, a professionally run organisation that believes in creating strong relationships with the companies that it invests in,” said BIL MD Craig Mountjoy in a statement.
Greenpoint said it had recently led a consortium of funders that included African Bank/Grindrod Bank to support Akhona to acquire the strategic stake in BIL through its managed fund Greenpoint Specialised Lending.
“As a specialist provider of capital solutions to SA businesses, we are delighted to have been able to support Akhona in its investment in BIL,” said Greenpoint chief investment officer Nic van Zyl.
Greenpoint did not give details on the value of the transaction.
“Our ability to arrange and conclude the financing of this transaction demonstrates our continued support to high-quality BBBEE groups,” Van Zyl said.
According to its website, BIL is owned by the Bidvest Group and the Makana Investment Corporation.
The global transport and logistics company, which has an international network of 250 offices in 120 countries, boasts 185,000m2 of warehousing space in all major centres in SA. It generated R2.2bn in operating profit for the group in 2023.
The Akhona Group has made strategic investments in local sectors such as industrials, manufacturing, mining services and financial services, with the most recent being its investment in Apex Group’s Africa operations, Apex Fund Services Holdings.
As part of the deal, Gosa is set to join the BIL board as a non-executive director.
“We are excited about this opportunity as it falls within our investment ethos of investing in sectors like logistics that form the backbone of our economy, backing strong management teams that have proven themselves in their ability to weather economic cycles,” Gosa said in a statement.
“Akhona is also pleased to partner with funding partners like Greenpoint and Grindrod who understand transformation as an economic imperative.”
Bidvest shares closed up 0.19% at R230.97 on Wednesday.
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