eBusiness Weekly
Fradreck Gorwe
Fortunes can best be attained through retracing the achievers’ footprints.
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)- listed logistic solution company with a nationwide footfrint, Unifreight Africa’s history, tells a rare reality of a minor swallowing a major through reverse acquisition.
Obviously, a fanfare was inevitable.
Germinal was the 1995 formation of Pioneer Transport by two Zimbabwean brothers, Simon and Hamish Rudland. It was a flagship brand under Pioneer Corporation Africa Limited.
Unifreight was incorporated in 1970 and got listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in 2003. It was acquired by Pioneer Corporation through a reverse listing in 2013.
The reverse listing was a second after one such that saw the incorporation into PCA of Clan Transport in 2003. Pioneer Clan (Botswana) ceased to operate in 2014.
A reverse takeover (RTO) is a type of merger that private companies engage into, become publicly traded without resorting to an initial public offering (IPO). Initially, the private company buys enough shares to control a publicly traded company.
Pioneer Corporation Africa (PCA) increased its authorised share capital to effect the acquisition of Unifreight to which 514 975 875 shares were issued.
The acquisition transaction was initiated in January 2011 and was completed end of December 2013. Pioneer’s asset base rose to $30 million after the acquisition.
In 2014, Pioneer Corporation Africa (PCA) contemplated renaming to Unifreight Africa Limited taking advantage of the brand being an important Zimbabwean asset for decades. Unifreight Africa Limited then became a new listing on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) following the acquisition and renaming.
With a restructuring exercise that ensued, the subsidiary Pioneer Transport missed revenue targets in succession. It thus became a discontinued operation by December 2014, only to earn a new lease of life when a management buy-out (MBO) was proposed. It was sold to management and workers for a nil value.
As part of the ongoing restructuring exercise, 2015 saw decisions to untie corporate knots with sister companies, Perfect Express Logistics (PXL Freight and Logistics) and 51 percent controlled Tredcor Zimbabwe (Trading as Trentyre). The subsidiaries were considered non-core operations weighing heavy on the Group.
The tyre production unit, Tredcor’s liabilities by then had exceeded its assets by $5.7 million mid-2015. It was further hit by an influx of cheap imports into the country. The 51 percent stake was to be sold to Scanlink, a firm owned by one shareholder Hamish Rudland.
Unifreight Africa offers comprehensive logistic, freight and passenger transport services to sub-Saharan Africa through its network of leading transport brands. Local operations include Swift Transport, Bulwark, Unifreight Engineering and Heavy Haulage, and Skynet Worldwide Express Zimbabwe. The logistics Group boasts of over seventy (70) years heritage as “the undisputed leader in the transport and logistics sector of Zimbabwe.”
Robert Edward Kuipers is the current group chief executive officer. The counter held a market capitalisation of $10 764 545 with 10.11 cents in share price as at 24 July 2019.
