Vunani increases stake in PQ to 51%

Johannesburg - Vunani Capital [JSE:VUN] has acquired a further 31% in Peregrine IQ (PQ) [JSE:PGR], increasing its stake in the fund management company to 51% and giving it control of the company.

Ethan Dube, group chief executive officer of Vunani said: "Vunani's acquisition of a controlling interest in PQ is in line with our stated objective of becoming the pre-eminent black owned financial services business in South Africa.

"Our mission is to offer our clients pertinent solutions and this investment improves our ability to do so for our fund management clients."

PQ is a South African fund management company that provides institutional and retail clients with a range of fund management products.

The business offers both systematic and active fund management with a strong quantitative underpin enforced through rigorous systems development and innovative product research. This investment philosophy has been developed over many years.

PQ currently has R11bn funds under management covering single- asset (index-linked, bespoke and beta) funds and multi-asset (absolute, target return and balanced) funds.

Vunani said it had initially invested in an 11% stake in PQ in 2005 and this follow-up investment presents the ideal opportunity to grow Vunani's fund management business.

"PQ will become one of the few black controlled fund managers and this signals Vunani's commitment to making fund management an important segment in its financial services business," Vunani said.

Vunani Limited Managing Director, Butana Khoza said: "In pursuing this acquisition Vunani wanted to capitalise on a business that is highly scalable and has a solid track record with a stable and experienced staff complement. I have been a non-executive director on the board of directors for a few years now and I know that there is intellectual robustness in the team. Furthermore the relationship between management and shareholders is professional. This bodes well for the future."

Vunani believes the acquisition augments its fund management offering which currently includes hedge funds of funds, private equity funds of funds, exchange traded funds and private wealth management. This transaction will increase collective funds under management on Vunani's fund management platform from R9bn to R20bn.

The branding of the business will change to include the name Vunani and the market will be informed of the change once all the necessary regulatory processes have been completed. 

  - I-Net Bridge