[2008-08-05]  MRIB to de-list in September
MRI Botswana will de-list from the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) at the beginning of September, after its protracted takeover bid by Southview failed.



On Friday, the company's board of directors issued a notice convening an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) for August 29, 2008 to approve cancellation of the admission of the company's ordinary shares to trading on the BSE (de-listing).

MRIB Chairman Dr Paul Davis said in the notice that if shareholders approve the cancellation at the EGM, the date for the proposed de-listing will be September 5, 2008.

"Shareholders should note that cancellation is likely to reduce significantly the liquidity and marketability of the company's ordinary shares," Davis said.

The securities of MRIB on the BSE remained halted since Southview announced that it required the remaining ordinary shares in the issued ordinary share capital of MRIB it did not own.

But Southview only managed to receive 1, 616, 634 offer shares representing 48.29 percent of the total shares of 3, 348, 022 and 8.94 percent of the aggregate number of MRIB ordinary shares in issue.

However, the acceptances of the offer did not exceed the nine tenths of the offer shares (other than those held by the Offeror) as required by the relevant law.

Accordingly, the notice said the Offeror was unable to invoke the provisions of Section 323 of the Act to compulsorily acquire the MRIB ordinary shares of the holders of such shares who did not accept the offer.

MRIB has been a target of takeover bids for some time since it fell on its knees, partly because of its loss of a government tender some years ago.

It went to court to contest the issue but ended up shooting itself in the foot as it lost hundreds of thousands of pula in the suit.

MRIB further indicated that a spike in costs was due to the rise of imports sourced from the US through South Africa, a 14-percent retainer fee hike for the company's aircraft and an aggressive recruitment of paramedics targeted at enhancing the performance of its core business.
Source: © MMEGI 2002 - 2008