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Survé: Time to hand over the baton

Cape Town - The time has simply arrived to hand over the baton at Sekunjalo Investments, executive chair Dr Iqbal Survé indicated in a statement on Friday regarding his decision to step down as chair of the company he founded in 1997.

Survé remains the single largest shareholder with a stake of 55%.

He remains chair of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings, the private investment holding company which is the controlling shareholder of Sekunjalo Investments. His retirement is specific to the public subsidiary, Sekunjalo Investments Limited.

“Sekunjalo has just released a solid set of results, which is no accident. This has been consistently built upon over the years and is due to the investment strategy of continuously reinvesting in the business, a focus on debt reduction and organic growth”, said Survé.

He indicated that his approach to investing was about building sustainable businesses and taking a long-term view rather than focusing on short-term gains.

"This required patience, was not always popular with all stakeholders, but was about the sustainability of business, the preservation of employment, taking a medium- to long-term view and building the future," he said.

“This is an indication of my confidence in the leadership and management teams to grow the business even further.”

Professor Vukile Mehana has been nominated as the non-executive chair of Sekunjalo and has served as a non-executive director for seven years. Mehana also serves as the chair of some of Sekunjalo’s subsidiary companies as well as on the boards of many other enterprises.

“I know I have large shoes to fill, but feel ready for it. I have worked well with Dr Survé over the years and I look forward to chairing one of the top empowerment companies listed on the JSE. I know Dr Survé as someone who applies himself well. We will continue in this tradition”, said Mehana.

The board has also created the position of non-executive deputy chair for which Salim Young, a long-standing board member, has been nominated. Young also serves as chair of the remuneration committee and the audit and risk committee, and is a former legal director of British American Tobacco South Africa.

Survé said that the financial strength of the group has allowed it to invest in the growth of its businesses and declare its maiden dividend to shareholders, as recently announced.

He added that Sekunjalo is a company with a solid balance sheet, a significant asset base, strong cash flows, investments in strategic high growth industries and has a diversified portfolio of investments which position the company well for future growth.

Survé said he is proud that Sekunjalo has been ranked this year as the top company in its sector of the Sustainability Data Transparency Index after ranking 16th overall out of 182 the previous year.

This follows on its top rankings for a number of years as the Top Most Empowered Company listed on the JSE.

“I am delighted that the business now has a solid foundation for growth, an increased employee base, strong community participation and a strong non-racial character in its business practices and has become a partner of choice for a number of multinational companies in their South African operations," said Survé.

“I am confident that as I retire as executive chair, the business has a great future, a strong investment portfolio and is left in the hands of a highly distinguished board of directors and capable management team led by CEO Khalid Abdulla."

As the largest shareholder of Sekunjalo Investments he said he looks forward to the continued trajectory of growth in this investment portfolio and in receiving dividends from the company.

"This is the challenge that I have given the board and the management team”, he said.

- Fin24

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