South African tech tycoon Jens Montanana loses over $9 million in 10 days from stake in Datatec

Mfonobong Nsehe -

Datatec, a South African-based ICT solutions and services firm, has seen its shares fall by double digits recently, paring prior losses and accruing millions of dollars in losses to shareholders, including South African tech magnate Jens Montana.

Montanana, who owns 14.26 percent of Datatec, has seen the market value of his shareholding in the South African tech group fall by more than $9 million in the past 10 days, according to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa.

Datatec shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange closed lower this week at R42.7 ($2.53) per share, as investors returned their investments to safety after the group’s share price climbed beyond R47.81 ($2.83) per share two weeks ago.

Since Aug. 16, shares in the group have dropped by more than 10 percent, from R47.81 ($2.84) 10 days ago, to R42.7 ($2.53) at the time of writing.

As a result of the recent decline in Datatec’s shares, the market value of Montanana’s 14.26-percent stake in the group has dropped by R159.2 million ($9.46 million), from R1.49 billion ($88.55 million) on Aug. 16 to R1.33 billion ($79.1 million) at the time of writing this report.

Montanana, who founded Datatec more than 35 years ago, has led the company to become a worldwide tech leader with active operations in over 50 countries across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

Logicalis UK&I, a wholly owned subsidiary of Datatec, purchased Q Associates, one of the UK’s major IT consultancy services, earlier this month in a move to bolster its expertise in digital infrastructure.

Datatec sold its management consulting business Analysys Mason to Bridgepoint Development Capital for R4.12 billion ($252 million) in July in an effort to unlock value from its positions in the technology industry.

Analysts estimate that if the right mix of strategies is used to generate value from Datatec’s broad-based operations, its valuation might climb to R60 ($3.7) per share.