Key Factors
- Tribunal approval bars retrenchments for 2 years and ensures Black possession enlargement via a phased 13.5% empowerment stake.
- Buyout executed by way of Newco, backed by Entsha and Zahid Group, with Normal Financial institution offering R17 billion ($965.36 million) in funding ensures.
- PIC assist helped ease governance considerations, paving the best way for delisting and worker shareholding beneath the post-buyout empowerment plan.
Barloworld Group, the South African industrial conglomerate led by Dominic Sewela, has cleared its closing regulatory hurdle after the Competitors Tribunal authorised a R23.3 billion ($1.3 billion) buyout by a management-led consortium and Saudi Arabia’s Zahid Group. The ruling paves the best way for Barloworld to go away the Johannesburg Inventory Alternate after greater than eight a long time.
Tribunal ties Barloworld deal to jobs
The tribunal tied its approval to circumstances aimed toward defending jobs and broadening Black possession. The merged entity is prohibited from retrenching South African staff for 2 years and should preserve present employment phrases in place.
It additionally ordered a two-stage empowerment plan that may hand traditionally deprived individuals and staff a mixed 13.5 % stake. Within the first part, the Barloworld Empowerment Basis will retain its 3.5 % holding. The second part, to be accomplished inside 24 months of delisting, will allocate 5 % to an worker share scheme and one other 5 % to a women-led consortium, topic to Competitors Fee clearance.
The deal brings an finish to Barloworld’s more than 80-year run on the JSE. It’s being led by a consortium that features Zahid Group, the Katlego Le Masego Belief, and One hundred pc Black-owned Entsha. By a special-purpose automobile generally known as Newco, the group will purchase the remaining shares at R120 ($6.8) every.
Black possession secures Barloworld takeover
The transaction is being executed via Newco, a special-purpose automobile owned by One hundred pc-Black-owned Entsha, which incorporates Sewela, and Zahid’s Gulf Falcon Holding. Newco will purchase remaining shares at R120 ($6.80) every, valuing the group at $1.3 billion. Funding was secured by way of Normal Financial institution services and ensures of about R17 billion.
The take-private started with a firm-intention offer on Dec. 11, 2024. Early governance considerations about administration’s position eased after the Public Funding Company—holding roughly 22 %—endorsed the bid in April 2025, following commitments to worker and empowerment possession.
Tribunal hearings between June and August targeted on jobs and Black possession, culminating in final week’s conditional approval. As soon as ample acceptances are reached, Newco will delist Barloworld from the JSE and A2X and implement the Part 2 possession construction.
Barloworld to delist after almost a century presence
Based in 1902 and greatest generally known as Caterpillar’s distributor in Southern Africa, Barloworld is among the many nation’s oldest listed corporations. Its delisting marks the tip of an period whereas embedding safeguards on employment and empowerment.
The corporate has confronted headwinds, with first-half fiscal 2025 income down 5.8 % to R18.1 billion ($1.03 billion), together with a 37 % plunge in its Car and Transport division and a 6 % decline in Southern Africa Tools.
