Brainworks Ltd (JSE:BWZ) has gone ahead with its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange even though it has had to redraw its financing plans.
The hospitality and finance conglomerate is the first Zimbabwe-focused company listed under the JSE’s Equity Investment Instruments (EII) sector.
Brett Childs, chief executive of Brainworks, said that the company would now look to market a convertible loan note.
The intention was to raise US$25mln in the listing but a combination of the political uncertainty in Zimbabwe (with elections next year) and a ‘wait and see’ attitude among investors scuppered the plan, said Childs.
Mauritius-domiciled and structured as a holding company, Brainworks’ stakes currently include 57.7% in hotel and casino group African Sun, which is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE).
The group also owns 66.8% of property group Dawn Properties; a 31.1% stake Zimbabwe microfinance provider GetBucks; 49% of GetCash, a mobile money transfer platform and all of life insurance group GetSure.
Revenues in 2016 were US$48mln and underlying earnings US$ 7mln.
“We aim to be the major player in Zimbabwe in the markets we have selected and hospitality in particular,” said Childs.
