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NewsDay

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Masawara eyes stake in Afre

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Masawara Plc, led by business mogul Shingai Mutasa, has expressed interest in purchasing a stake held by Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in Africa First ReNaissance Coporation (Afre) it has emerged. This is contained in ReNaissance Financial Holdings (RFHL) board meeting minutes held on September 29 attached to the opposing papers filed at the High Court, under […]

Masawara Plc, led by business mogul Shingai Mutasa, has expressed interest in purchasing a stake held by Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in Africa First ReNaissance Coporation (Afre) it has emerged.

This is contained in ReNaissance Financial Holdings (RFHL) board meeting minutes held on September 29 attached to the opposing papers filed at the High Court, under case number HC9989/11 filed by Bartholomew Mswaka the acting group chief executive of Minutes of the RFHL.

The meeting was attended by board members Christopher Chetsanga, Colin Kuhuni, Maitirwa Mukonoweshuro, Bartholomew Mswaka and Lloyd Tsaura.

According to the minutes Econet was planning to dispose its share (19,7%) and was talking to National Social Security Authority (NSSA) to buy its stake.

“It was pointed out that there was need to take cognisance of the agreement between Econet and RFHL as regards the pre-emptive rights RFHL has on Afre shares,” reads part of the minutes.

“The chairman advised members that a potential investor, Masawara, had also shown interest in the Econet Afre stake. Members discussed this issue and it was pointed out that Masawara should formerly write to the chairman outlining its proposal to acquire Afre shares.

“As regards putting a plan in place by RFHL if Econet moved out of Afre, the chairman advised members that Afre business was on hold since cancellation of its annual general meeting and extraordinary general meeting and that management were not aware of Econet’s exit plans.”

Until now NSSA has been frontrunner to snap up significant shareholding ever since Econet indicated its intention to pull out arguing it was “misunderstood”.

Econet chairperson Tawanda Nyambirai told NewsDay’s sister paper The Standard their intervention to stabilise the situation at Afre had not been received well and hoped the new shareholder would be understood better by the regulators.

“Econet has decided to identify a well-resourced and credible shareholder to buy its shares and bring stability to Afre.

“It is Econet’s hope that such a shareholder could be less misunderstood and more acceptable to the regulators.

“The only shareholder that Econet can think of which meets this criteria is NSSA,” Nyambirai said. He indicated the two parties were currently discussing how NSSA would buy Econet’s 19,71% stake in Afre.

Nyambirai said if NSSA came on board, Econet would be happy to lift the interdict it has over the 33% of Afre held by RFHL that was pledged to secure the money owed to Econet.

He said Econet was willing to sell its direct 5% shareholding in Pearl Properties to NSSA as part of the transaction.

NSSA confirmed the deal last week.