After the sale of its management consulting firm, Datatec, a Johannesburg-based multinational technology group led by South African tech tycoon Jens Montanana, is preparing to reward its shareholders with mouth-watering dividends.
According to a press release obtained by Billionaires.Africa, Datatec has received approval from its board of directors to pay out £135.1 million ($149.5 million) to shareholders in the form of a special cash dividend of R12.50 ($0.68) per share, with the company absorbing all transaction-related costs in order to maximize the distribution to shareholders.
The special dividend, which is “payable to the shareholders in proportion to their ordinary shareholding in Datatec at the close of business on Friday, December 2,” will be paid from the group’s initial consideration from the sale of its management consulting firm, Analysys Mason, to UK fund manager Bridgepoint Development Capital.
Jens Montanana, Datatec’s founder and CEO, is set to receive $17 million from the $149.5-million special dividend payment approved by the board of directors.
The group further stated that shareholders will have the option to choose to receive new, fully paid Datatec shares (the scrip distribution) in proportion to their ordinary shareholding on the record date in place of the special cash dividend.
The new Datatec shares that will be issued under the scrip distribution, in contrast to the special cash dividend, will not be subject to a dividend withholding tax of 20 percent, and the issue price of the scrip distribution will be equal to the volume-weighted average price of Datatec’s shares for the 30-day trading day period ending on Mon., Nov. 21, 2022.
Datatec is a South African ICT solutions and services provider that provides software and cloud computing solutions such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) (SaaS).
Under Montanana’s leadership, the company has expanded to more than 50 countries in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. Montanana founded Datatec in 1986 and owns a significant 11.98-percent stake in the group.
Last year, the company also issued a special dividend to shareholders totaling $70 million (R1 billion) at the end of the first-half period of its 2022 fiscal year, which ended on Aug. 30, 2021.
