Datatec, a South African-based ICT solutions and services firm, has recently seen its shares fall by a single digit, paring prior gains 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 $8 million in the past 28 days, according to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa.
The recent decline in his stake comes after his shares in the company increased by R320.23 million ($17.6 million), from R986.8 million ($54.28 million) to R1.31 billion ($71.9 million), between Jan. 1 and June 15.
Datatec shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange closed lower today at R36.42 ($2.02) per share, as investors returned their investments to safety after the group’s share price climbed beyond R40.10 ($2.22) per share on June 14.
Since June 15, shares in the group have dropped by more than 11 percent, from R41.06 ($2.27) 28 days ago to R36.42 ($2.02) 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 R148.04 million ($8.19 million), from R1.31 billion ($72.50 million) on June 15 to R1.16 billion ($64.3 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.
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.
In an effort to unlock value from its investments in the technology industry, Datatec sold its management consulting business Analysys Mason to Bridgepoint Development Capital for R4.12 billion ($252 million) a year ago.
Nearly ten months ago, to bolster its digital infrastructure expertise, one of the wholly owned subsidiaries of Datatec, Logicalis UK&I, purchased Q Associates, one of the UK’s major IT consultancy services.
