Botswana businessmen Farouk Ismail, Ramachandran Ottapathu acquire stake in Choppies

Botswana businessmen Farouk Ismail and Ramachandran Ottapathu have acquired an additional 6,259,264 ordinary shares in Choppies Enterprises Limited at a cost of R5.26 million ($331,800).

A notification issued on the Botswana Stock Exchange by the retailer revealed that the businessmen acquired 6,259,264 ordinary shares on Nov. 25 at a price of R0.84 ($0.05298) per share, putting the cash consideration for the acquisition at R5.26 million ($331,800).

Before the acquisition, Ismail and Ottapathu held a joint 44.17-percent stake, amounting to 575,830,865 ordinary shares in the leading retailer.

As a result of the recent purchase, their joint stake in Choppies increased from 575,830,865 shares to 582,090,129 shares.

As of press time, Nov. 25, shares in Choppies were worth R0.80 ($0.05053) per share, 4.76-percent lower than its opening price this morning.

At the current price, the market value of their joint stake is valued at R465.67 million ($29.43 million). This valuation places them among the wealthiest businessmen and investors in Botswana.

Choppies Enterprises Limited is a Botswana-based investment holding operating in the retail sector in Southern Africa, with 154 stores and eight distribution centers across the region.

The group operates as a leading player in the food and general merchandise retail segments under Ottapathu, who co-founded the retailing giant with Ismail in 1986.

A recent financial statement by Choppies revealed that the supermarket chain posted its first profit since 2016, as earnings during its 2021 financial year surged above the BWP59-million ($5 million) mark.

Figures contained in the holding’s financial statement revealed that its bottom-line improved by 116.1 percent from the loss of BWP370.6 million ($32.4 million) reported last year to BWP59.6 million ($5.2 million) during the period under review.

Choppies would have posted a resilient financial result in 2020. Still, the BWP469.6-million ($41 million) loss that it incurred relating to the divestiture of its South Africa operations pressured its BWP99-million ($8.6 million) net profit to a loss of BWP370.6 million ($32.4 million).