Datatec is hoping to be able to make an announcement regarding its long-awaited black economic empowerment deal in July, according to CEO Jens Montanana.
Asked about the group`s South African operations at the presentation of its financial results in Sandton yesterday, Montanana said the deal was about four to six months late.
Datatec had originally planned to have a deal by the end of the 2005 calendar year.
"We are in the throes of completing a BEE deal and we hope to announce something in July," he said.
"Both parties needed to get some things sorted out in terms of shareholder structure."
Datatec has two operations in SA. Montanana said the distribution business, Westcon AME, had an encouraging and profitable year, while RangeGate, which focuses on mobile technologies for supply chain and service solutions, incurred a small loss.
SA and the Middle East accounted for just 3% of Datatec`s $2.98 billion revenue for the year to 28 February.
Most of the group`s revenue is in North America (53%) and Europe (36%), leading Datatec to consider a secondary listing on London`s AIM exchange.
Montanana said the reasons for the listing included a recovery in the market, and the fact that more than 95% of the group`s assets were overseas.
Other reasons included the growing internationalisation of the business.
He said although the group had not yet decided on how much it wanted to raise through the exercise, it could raise up to $100 million.
That would depend the decision of shareholders on how to use the proceeds of the listing.
Datatec`s share lost 10c or 0.3% to close at 3 040c on the JSE yesterday. This morning it was trading another 10c lower at 3 030c.
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