Johannesburg — IMPERIAL Holdings, the transport and logistics group, said yesterday it had paid R160m for a strategic stake in fleet-management and vehicle-tracking company MiX Telematics.

Tak Hiemstra, Imperial' s executive director, said yesterday that the company had bought half of the 25,4% stake on the open market over two months and this gave it a direct minority stake in the company.

This strategic acquisition is an indication that Imperial is on the acquisition trail.

The value of Imperial Holdings ' stake is about R185m as MiX Telematics - whose subsidiaries include the country' s third-biggest vehicle-tracking company Matrix - has a market capitalisation of about R735m.

Hiemstra said Imperial owned the other half of the 25,4% interest through a new company it had created with Kagiso Trust Investments, MiX Telematics's black economic empowerment partner that owns 12,5% of the vehicle tracking group. Imperial owns 51% in this new venture and Kagiso owns the balance.

Imperial said that as part of this acquisition, Kagiso Trust Investments had transferred its holding in MiX out of Kagiso Strategic Investments into a new company it had formed with Imperial. It said it was expected that MiX's empowerment credentials would be enhanced by these transactions.

Hiemstra said MiX, which has an annual revenue of R958m, already had a business relationship with Imperial through its almost 250 new and used vehicle dealerships. These dealerships formed an important distribution channel for MiX Telematics's Matrix, the vehicle tracker.

"This strategic shareholding will further strengthen the relationship between MiX and Imperial," Imperial said.

MiX CEO Stefan Joselowitz said the transaction cemented the company's relationship with Imperial and the company was excited about it.

Joselowitz said Imperial had different businesses that provided distribution opportunities to MiX, while s everal of Mi X's other products in the fleet-management arena might also find applications in Imperial.