RPC Data investors set to aprrove buy-out

 Under the buy-out proposal, a management-led consortium which includes founder and MD, John Pool, plans to acquire all the shares they do not presently hold from other investors and de-list the 24-year-old IT firm from the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) by December 2. The company has suffered a series of losses over the years due largely to the high risks associated with IT consultancy and the dependence on government tenders.

In two week's time, shareholders will gather at RPC Data office in Commerce Park, Gaborone for an EGM analysts believe will sanction a delisting and takeover of the company by the management consortium. The company has been trading on the BSE for 14. Documents sent by the RPC Data independent directors to shareholders indicate that the price per share on offer represents a 126% premium on the market value of the company, based on BSE trading levels over the past six months. Directors at previous AGMs have also stressed the need to repatriate value back to shareholders, rather than have the company sink.