Company news in brief

Brait sets date for rights offer

Brait, the private equity firm partly owned by billionaire Christo Wiese, has set a date of 29 July for its R1.5-billion rights offer, with a circular due on 18 July.

Wiese's Titan is serving as underwriter and has irrevocably committed to subscribe for its entitlement of about R430 million, Brait said in a statement.

The group, now valued at about R1.44 billion on the JSE, announced a plan in June that includes the rights issue, a three-year extension of bond repayments currently due at end-2024, and a partial debt reduction.

The move comes as the group rethinks plans to exit its about R15-billion portfolio of assets by the end of 2024, saying recently this capital raise will allow it to buy time to unlock maximum value for shareholders.

Brait has slumped by almost two-thirds in the past year. - Fin24

First Car Rental cuts ties with Sixt

First Car Rental, one of South Africa's top four rental companies, announced that it is bringing an end to its agreement with European rental giant Sixt, with all dual-branded signage to revert to its own brand from 1 October.

First Car Rental is a subsidiary of JSE-listed Combined Motor Holdings, and has 500 staff, 50 branches, and 9 000 cars in South Africa, while also having operational presence in Malta, Mauritius and Tanzania.

In 2008, it acquired a service contract to operate the Germany-based, Sixt rent a car, in South Africa.

Sixt customers can rent vehicles at more than 2 000 branches in over 100 countries.

"It's never easy ending such a long-standing partnership but ultimately Sixt represented only a fraction of our overall business by facilitating some inbound volume to South Africa via a few source markets," head of development, strategy and marketing at First Car Rental Melissa Nortje said in a statement. - Fin24

Rescue plan approved for Wescoal

JSE-listed junior coal miner Salungano said creditors have voted in favour of a business rescue plan for distressed subsidiary Wescoal.

Wescoal Mining houses Salungano's coal mining assets in the Khanyisa Colliery near Ogies and Elandspruit Colliery in Middelburg, and the business rescue process had come amid a bid for liquidation from a contractor.

During the meeting on 12 July a plan was presented and adopted, Salungano said in a statement, with 85% of creditors voting in favour of the rescue plan.

According to the latest update from the business rescue practitioners, Dawie van der Merwe, Lance Schapiro and Grant Chittenden, an assessment with the help of experts had indicated that there is significant opportunity to operate the Elandspruit resource profitably. - Fin24

Huawei builds massive research centre

Huawei Technologies Co. is close to finishing the construction of a chip research and development centre in Shanghai, in a move that's likely to advance China's technological ambitions even as the US tries to halt its rise.

The park, which will be Huawei’s largest research centre globally, will house about 30 000 personnel, according to statements on the Shanghai government's website.

The site in Qingpu district covers 1.6 million square metres and has its own road network, a small railway system and elevated bridges which are already in place, the release said.

The new facility will pursue breakthroughs in semiconductors for devices, wireless networks and the Internet of Things, said a state media report in January which cited a Shanghai government briefing.

The total investment cost is 10 billion yuan (about N$25 billion), according to a statement posted on the Qingpu government website. - Fin24/Bloomberg