Bidvest to list food service unit

Johannesburg- Bidvest Group (JSE: BVT) on Thursday said it plans to list its food business Bid Corp on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on May 30 to streamline its activities and operations.

Bidvest, a company involved in businesses from shipping to selling household mops, has said in the past that the food business should be separated because its value was not reflected in the company's share price.

The unbundling will result in shareholders holding a direct interest in Bid Corp rather than holding that interest through Bidvest, the firm said in a statement.

Bidvest will dispose of all of the shares in its food business at a net value of approximately R2.8bn and the net book value of the excluded assets being acquired by Bidvest will be approximately R6.2m, the group said.

The division, Bidvest's biggest and one that contributes over half of the company's sales of R200bn, supplies pubs, restaurants and hotels in Europe, South America and Asia.