JSE-listed verification company Muvoni has received a 20c-a-share bid from Horizon Investments & Financial Services to buy out around 15% of its stock, in a move that will see Muvoni delisted.
In a statement to shareholders yesterday, Muvoni - which used to be called Ideco - said the bid was a 55% premium on the closing price of the stock on Friday. Horizon will buy all the shares not held by Muvoni Investment Holdings (MIH), CEO Vhonani Mufamadi and ZNG Technologies, which collectively have an almost 15% beneficial interest.
Muvoni provides criminal background checks, pre-employment screening, automated fingerprint identification systems and biometric solutions.
Should the deal go through, Muvoni will be delisted from the JSE's Alt-X board and converted into a private company. It says the bid provides Muvoni shareholders - other than those who remain stockholders - with a "cash exit opportunity at an attractive premium to the current and historical market prices of the Muvoni shares". Muvoni shares closed flat at 9c yesterday.
Horizon is a private property investment company, established in 2002 by its sole shareholder - the Keating Family Trust - and Keith Warren Keating is its only director. After the deal, Horizon will own 15.41% of the stock, while MIH will have 41.42%, ZNG will own 40.09% and Mufamadi just more than 3%.
Horizon, which will provide the funding for the scheme, has received irrevocable undertakings from shareholders holding 30% of the shares that can be voted at a shareholders' meeting. The excluded shareholders will not be considered in calculating the vote at the meeting.
Should the buyout bid not be successful at the meeting, the board also proposes an alternative resolution, which is to delist the company.
In the year to August, the company reported revenue higher at R106 million, from R99.7 million, and it made a profit of R5.7 million, reversing the previous year's loss of R2.35 million. It said the profit includes a R3.9 million gain from the sale of Ideco Biometric Security Solutions (IBSS).
Muvoni decided to sell IBSS to focus on providing transaction-based verification services.
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