Johannesburg, 17 Sep 1997
The merger of two of the leading South African IT companies, Persetel Holdings and Q Data has taken a major step forward with the announcement of the new corporate structures and the appointment of the executive committees of the three major companies, as well as the executives who will be appointed to the respective Boards of Directors.
The holdings company, Persetel Holdings will continue to be listed on the JSE but will change its name to Persetel Q Data Holdings Ltd, (PQ Holdings).
P Q Holdings will have two subsidiaries, both 100% owned at this stage. They will be PQ (Africa) which will house all the South African and other African businesses of the combined group and PQ International which will house all the International businesses outside of Africa.
As was previously announced, the chairman of PQ Holdings will be Roux Marnitz, founder of Persetel, whilst Leen van der Bijl, former chairman and CEO of Q Data will become CEO of PQ (Africa). Hermus Eramus, a long standing member of Persetel executive bodies, will become CEO of PQ (International).
The businesses where there is an overlap will be combined into single units and the non-overlapped areas will remain intact. Commenting on the merger process, Roux Marnitz said that there were relatively few areas of overlap, the major one being the networking business. "There are many synergies between the two organisations and where we have combined the businesses such as in networking, the entity which will emerge will be a major contender in the market."
"The merger is expected to go very smoothly judging by the enthusiastic reaction to the transaction by Persetel and Q Data staff. Our respective customers have also reacted very positively and have indicated that they look forward to the enhanced value which we will be able to add to their businesses through strengthened consulting skills and a richer product offering," he said.
The systems business; incorporating Persetel Mainframes, Persetel Open Systems and Supported Software; and the Networking business will remain the responsibility of Francois Spruyt who also becomes Deputy CEO of PQ(A). The division will continue to operate under the name Persetel (Pty.) Ltd. Ettiene Fourie will continue to have responsibility for the consultancy division of the business, incorporating Q Data Consulting (QDC) and Persetel Systems Integrations (PSI).
Other appointments include Stephen Carlin who will head up the Electronic Commerce and Internet business sectors including ECNet, SACA, QD Internet and QEDI; and Chris Botha who will be responsible for the new workstation division.
By all accounts the newly formed PQ Holdings looks firmly positioned to become a formidable force in the local and international IT markets.
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