Econet Going Ahead With Separating Baskets And Eggs: Cassava SmartTech To Be Listed By December 11

Farai Mudzingwa

8 November 2018

Econet has sent out a circular to investors informing them of the roadmap for their spin off Cassava SmartTech. If everything goes to plan the separation will take about a month and Cassava SmartTech Limited should be listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange on Tuesday 11 December 2018.

Background

Back in September Econet released a statement warning investors to trade wisely as the Board of Directors was “engaged in discussions and was considering various proposals which if implemented may have a material impact on the value of the Company’s shares.”

At the time we didn’t understand what was actually going on and what the plan was but then it became clear why that warning had been given. Econet were intending to unbundle Cassava SmartTech and list it separately on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.

What’s happening?

Econet is establishing a new company called Cassava SmartTech and they will be issuing out 750 000 000 shares to existing shareholders of the telecoms and technology giant. After further issuing out of shares Cassava SmartTech will then be listed separately from Econet Wireless Zimbabwe on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.

In simple terms?

Essentially, Econet is giving existing shareholders some shares in Cassava SmartTech. A similar case happened a few years ago when Innscor unbundled and listed Simbisa Brands separately. They created a separate company and existing Innscor shareholders became shareholders in Simbisa Brands. Similarly, existing Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Shareholders will now have a shareholding in Cassava SmartTech.

Investor flexibility

For the investor who believes that telecommunications is the future, he/she is no longer tied to other services offered by Cassava SmartTech which include Agritech, Edu-Tech and Health-Tech services. The opposite is also true for investors who don’t believe in telecoms going forward.

Such an investor does not have to keep themselves invested in sectors they don’t believe in just because they come bundled with one they want to keep. After the successful separation such an investor is free to retain shareholding in whichever entity they want and they can sell off whichever they don’t since both will be publicly traded.