GM-Maize-Report

From the late 1990s onwards Premier becamesubject to a procession of takeovers andrestructuring. Between 1999 and 2001 FabvestInvestment holdings, the investment armof the Foundation for African Business andConsumer Services (FABCOS) 144 , began topurchase tranches in Premier until, by 2001,it had acquired a 73% stake. Funding for thepurchase was secured from Nedbank. However,due to poor financial results from Premier, byDecember 2003 Fabvest’s debt to Nedbankhad swelled to R666 million. Consequently,Fabcos’ 73% stake was restructured into a newjoint venture company, ‘Fabcos EstablishedInvestment’, 55% held by Fabcos and 45%by Nedbank. 145 In July 2005 Fabcos sold 50%of its holding in Tsogo Sun gaming to CyrilRamaphosa’s investment company, JohnnicHoldings, for R295 million, allowing it toredeem its outstanding debt to Nedbank andbecome the sole shareholder in Premier. Inthe process, Premier became the largest blackowned company in South Africa. 146However, Fabcos continued to strugglefinancially until, in 2007, it sold its interestsin Premier to Brait Private equity, the privateequity arm of the SA investment bank, Brait,for R1.5 billion. 147 Brait’s primary listing ison the Euro MTF market in Luxemburg, ajurisdiction ranked third in the Tax JusticeNetwork’s financial secrecy index for 2011, 148with a secondary listing on the Johannesburgstock exchange (JSE). It has operations in SouthAfrica and Mauritius. In 2011 Brait re-domiciledfrom Luxemburg to Malta, another notoriouslyopaque tax jurisdiction. Though Malta’seffective maximum tax rate is 35%, foreigncompanies who choose to domicile there canclaim as much as 85% of this back in variousrefunds. 149 As of 31 March 2013 Brait held 79.9%of Premier. Brait also holds a 37% equity stakein Pepkor and 18.7% in UK supermarket groupIceland. 150 Christo Weise, who is the chairmanand controlling shareholder of Shopriteholdings, has an 18% shareholding in Brait,making him the private equity group’s largestsingle shareholder. 151Beyond South Africa Premier Foods acquiredcontrolling stakes in the two leading breadcompanies in Swaziland, Mr Bread andSwaziland United Bakeries (SUB), in 2012,resulting in the formation of Premier SwaziBakeries. The R85 million deals secured them a75% share of Swaziland’s bread market whencombined and gives Premier operating quartersand distribution channels into Botswanaand Mozambique. The whole distributionof Premier Swazi products comes from thekingdom. Recent reports say the companynow has an eye on Ngwane Mills in Swaziland,though no further details of the deal areavailable at present.In July 2013 it was reported that PremierFoods completed the R125 million acquisitionof Manhattan’s business from Kraft Foodsas part of building a diversified food group.Manhattans has manufacturing plants inPort Elizabeth, Botswana, Swaziland, Kenya,Johannesburg, and Namibia 152 .Tiger BrandsTiger brands is considered South Africa’slargest fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs)company; the company’s brands accountingfor nearly 15% of goods sold at every majorretailer. 153 Its Primary listing is on the JSE, butis also traded on the Frankfurt and BerlinStock Exchanges, the German Composite (allGermany), and the Grey market and PTC Pink(USA). 154 The company’s business operationsare divided into three main divisions:grains, consumer brands and exports, andinternational. Under these divisions are foundthe companies various brands. For example,Albany breads, Golden Cloud flour and Acemaize products fall under the milling andbaking segment of the Grains division. Inaddition to its milling brands, Tiger owns someof South Africa’s most popular consumergoods brands, including: Jungle Oats, Tastic rice,Koo, All Gold, Fatti & Moni’s pasta, Ingram’sCamphor cream, Maynards and Beacon, toname a few.The company was established by Jacob Frankel,a German immigrant living in Johannesburgwho earned a living selling toothpicks forBroude and Marks. Joffee Marks would providefunding to Frankel to help him establish TigerOats 155 from its original premises, opened inNewtown, and register Tiger Brand’s logo, bothin 1920. The Jungle Oats brand was launchedin 1925. In 1944 Tiger Oats and the NationalMilling Company Limited were incorporated32 AFRICAN CENTRE FOR BIOSAFETY