Lawrence Sikutwa & Associates Limited and ZFI Holdings Limited, the two largest shareholders in Madison Financial Services (MFS), have separately executed Share Purchase Agreements with XYLEM Trading Limited, relinquishing their combined 72.05 per cent shareholding in the insurance giant for $35 million.
According to a market announcement, LSA and ZFI, a private limited company incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Mauritius and legal owner of 34.91 per cent of the ordinary issued shares in MFS, are relinquishing their shareholding in MFS following the execution of separate SPA.
Madison Financial Services has faced a series of liquidity, credit and solvency issues governance related lapses that triggered regulatory take over in 2019.
Xylem Chief Executive Officer Kajiya Kantumoya expressed not only confidence in Madison as a local bred company but the Zambian economy as a whole that despite the economic downturn, would soon rebound to allow Madison thrive.
“Our investment in Madison Financial Services signifies our confidence in the Zambian business landscape as well as the Zambian economy which we believe will get better going forward. As an investment target for us we believe Madison was a better target having a pedigree of over 28 years and being Zambian owned entity. The length of existence is beyond any private owned entity in Zambia while LSA has done a tremendous job that has taken the group this far listing on the Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE),” Mr. Kantumoya said.
“With Xylems $35million investment, we are positioned to recapitalize all the business units in the group, strengthen its corporate governance principles, introduce new and exciting products on the insurance side and in the asset management space through Madison Finance that the Zambian Public will appreciate and benefit the injection of new competitive blood that will take Madison to its number one spot in the country,” he said.
Xylem Trading (Pty) is a company and investment vehicle incorporated in South Africa with a diversified investment portfolio which includes regulated financial services in Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Seychelles.
XTL specializes in commodity trading in fuel and grain in the SADC.
So who exactly are XYLEM Trading, Chinese?
Great business mind, we wish you well sir.
How can Madson Financial be worthy more than Finance Bank. Rupiah only sold FB for $5 million.
They hv overpaid. Hw can a company in distress be worth this much?
Xylem trading is Bushiri
DJ – there were too many issues at FBZ – BoZ took over the operations of FBZ after it found evidence that FBZ had severely breached the Banking and Financial Services Act; one being a number of the bank’s directors were found guilty of awarding themselves large loans without board approval, which had led to a sharp rise in the level of non-performing loans. And this was the country’s largest privately owned lender…these were selfish Directors like a blogger who used to post here called BR Mum ba and other senior managers.
It could be HH who bought that.
Mauritius is the tax haven for even American companies.
You Zambians can’t understand that kind of business.
Their employees must wake up and smell the coffee. Get your packages and walk out!!! Don’t come back and flood social media with tears as if you were not warned. Good luck!!!
That money has gone into LSA (Lawrence Sikutwa &Associates) because they’re the ones who sold the shares. LSA now has to pay its liabilities. Any change that remains is wht Sikutwa will be entitled to. That’s hw it works. Regulators now hv to establish who XYLEM really is, that is, who are the natural persons who are beneficial owners of shares in XYLEM, where do they live, wht do they do and wht hv they been doing, wht is their standing with regulators where they live. Anything short of the above is a joke.
A wash trade selling to himself through a subsidiary company to spoof remaining stock holders into selling their shares too due to uncertainty. He wants to gain total control by buying back the shares at a lower price. Soon you will see the share price of MFS slowly drop down which will trigger more selling pressure. Classic move.
@DJ, The Post Newspaper misled a lot of people on FBZ and RB because they didn’t talk about the Deloitte UK audit report that found the net worth of the Bank at $5M. RB made the correct decision. As for LSA, I hope former Military Officers whose pensions are held up will now be paid.
I fear for Zambia. The Zambian currency is in free fall and piling up misery on everyone. This will not stop until there’s a political settlement our trading partners can trust. Coming to the LSA issue, I don’t believe that someone or some people hv mobilized US$35 million cash to buy out Lawrence Sikutwa’s shares from the Madison group. It’s possible but I’m not ready to believe it without evidence. Just watch this space. We Zambians lack real loyalty to each other that some people rely on to navigate an uncertain world.
Are they selling it to the Chinese??
Nemwine, you are wrong. Regulators come into the picture before the sale, not after, that is the case for large private companies with significant assets and employees or indeed for publicly traded companies.
LSA being an insurance and pensions company is subject to pre~approval BEFORE the sale.
With that being said. Liabilities were disclosed, and we cannot assume about the sale price including paying back owed monies or cash in pocket.
Clarification,establishing the owners and their intent is done before the sale, never after. Sometimes sales are blocked if the intended buyers are found to have links to international crimes, face sanctions or whatever other reason.
That explains what we have been seeing on the ground.
Sikutwa has disappointed those who always want to give Zambians a chance. There has been no shortage of disappointments whn u try to believe in Zambians. There was too much groupthink on the LSA board. Capital expenditure was too rapid. Before one project was completed, the LSA group would embark on another one. Look where they’re now. It’s a sad story. Wht was once a high-flying Zambian group is virtually gone. I hope Sikutwa would be open about the lessons he has learned.
Abandalama
35 million dollars of laundered money is being poured into the whole group. Only a small portion of that is going to Mr. Dikhta and his safe haven outfit in Mauritius . The so-called CEO of XYLEM is a crooked henchman of Bushiri, the crooked who robbed churchgoers in Malawi. That money is being parked I. MCF to cut deals with PF and it’s financiers. Come August, Zambians will know the truth.
Great deal