South African tycoon Jens Montanana’s stake in Datatec loses $30 million in eight weeks

Mfonobong Nsehe -

Jens Montanana, a South African tycoon, has seen the market value of his stake in Datatec, a Johannesburg-based multinational technology group, fall by more than 34 percent in the past eight weeks as the company’s shares have been marked down on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, Montanana’s stake in the technology group has lost more than $30 million in the last eight weeks, or 56 days, bringing the market value of his sake below $60 million.

The recent drop in the market value of his stake comes more than a month after the group’s shares were marked down on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to reflect a special dividend paid to shareholders from the proceeds of the sale of Analysys Mason to UK fund manager Bridgepoint Development Capital (BDC).

Datatec is a South African provider of ICT solutions and services, specializing in software and cloud computing solutions such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).

Montanana’s leadership has led to the company’s expansion into over 50 countries across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. Montanana, a prominent South African tycoon, founded Datatec in 1986 and currently owns 14.06 percent of the company.

Three months ago, the group’s board of directors approved a special cash dividend of R12.50 ($0.68) per share from the group’s initial consideration from the sale of its management consulting firm, Analysys Mason, to UK fund manager Bridgepoint Development Capital.

With the announcement of the special dividend payout in October, and the subsequent markdown of the group’s shares, the price of Datatec shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange has dropped by nearly 35 percent, falling from R47.08 ($2.77) on Nov. 14 to R30.67 ($1.81) at the time of writing this report.

Montanana’s stake has dropped from R1.47 billion ($86.33 million) to R955.54 billion ($56.24 million) as a result of the drop in Datatec shares.

This translates to a loss of R511.27 million ($30.1 million) for the South African businessman in just eight weeks.