15 November 2004 SPECIALIST COMPANY ASSISTS WITH MANAGEMENT BUY-OUT “We were approached by the management in May 2004 to assist them in buying the operation,” says Jane Wiltshire, executive trustee of Valbridge Trust, “because of our experience and track record in this highly specialized field. We negotiated the purchase with Unilever, raised the finance and oversaw the transition including the transfer of employee benefits such as retirement funds and medical aid. The time-line was extremely tight to fit in with Unilever South Africa Foods’ deadlines. Because of our well-established network of professionals, we were able to come in on time!” Valbridge Trust provides an experienced professional team with the expertise and experience to assist the management team in acquiring a larger portion of equity at a far lower risk than they would be able to do on their own. New shareholders of SFI are business development director Harry Meyer (previously general manager of USAF), Niel Moller, production director (previously production manager), financial executive, Patrick Millerd and managing director Peter Brierley, both of whom were brought in by Valbridge Trust. Other shareholders are Nedbank and Valbridge Trust. Carl Malcomess, an executive trustee of Valbridge Trust fills the position of non-executive chairman. The first Board meeting was held on 7 October 2004. A partnership with a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) company, Lumko Trust, has been finalised. |