Kabo Mokgoabone
15 September 2008
MRI Botswana Limited (MRIB), the first medical assistance company in the world to go public by listing on the bourse on Friday, reversed the gains when it delisted from the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) to seek a new lease of life elsewhere.
Headed by one of the most successful local chief executive officers (CEO) Rockie Mmutle, MRI will now map its way forward after private equity fund VPB and medical aid scheme Botswana Medical Aid Society (BoMAID) managed to buy out minorities in a hostile takeover.
Although some minorities have not accepted the offer, company executives believe the move is in the best interest of the medical emergency outfit.
"This (delisting) is in fact a positive move in strengthening and expanding the company's operations and the product lines of the organisation," MRI acting board chairman Dennis Alexander said on Friday.
"Delisting will not affect the performance of MRIB but will instead help the company positively. MRI can now look beyond the borders without restrictions," said Alexander, who is also the BoMAID managing director.
Looking at the tail of the tape, the delisting from the local bourse follows the successful offer to minorities by Southview of 125 thebe per share which was a premium looking at 112 thebe the last trading of MRIB.
By close of business on Friday 11 July 2008, Southview (a 50/50 partnership between VPB and BoMAID) had managed to acquire 47 percent out of the 3, 348, 022 ordinary shares of MRIB held by minorities. Southview and BOMaid now hold 90.262 percent of ordinary shares in the company.
The offer meant that MRIB was no longer in compliance with BSE rules and that the cost of maintaining admission to the exchange was a burden to the company, explained Alexander.
Alexander said for the past five years, the company's revenues and profitability have been on the decline with rising costs.
The board has therefore come to the conclusion that it is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders for MRIB to terminate its listing from the BSE", he said.
MRIB's core business is Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Care with a 24-hours call centre.
Its woes were worsened after it lost lucrative government tender to its rival Netcare that led to a fall in profits.
The company, which was once headed by parliamentary hopeful Phillip Makgalemele, who was criticised for sponsoring a lower division football league with MRIB money, began operating in Botswana in 1992.
In 1999, a year after obtaining a listing, it partnered with Save Our Soul (SOS) International, which owned 45 percent of the company.
SOS has since left the outfit leaving the monied institutions VPB (which manages the P200 million CEDA Venture Capital Fund) and BoMAID to restructure the company.
Board member of the company Bafana Molomo says the move is citizen empowerment drive since BoMAID and VPB are local companies.
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