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The JSE will be summoned to appear before the judicial commission of inquiry into the Public Investment Corporation to explain its decision to halt the listing of Sagarmatha Technologies, Assistant Commissioner Gill Marcus said on Monday.
This follows evidence by Sekunjalo chairperson Iqbal Survé last week, who told the commission that the company’s listing was “scuppered”.
Marcus said the stock exchange will be requested to appear before the commission to explain what happened.
Sagarmatha had hoped to secure R3bn in funding from the PIC, out of a total investment of R4.5bn for its planned listing on the JSE in early 2018.
On his first day of testimony last week, Survé told the commission that rival media companies had pressured the JSE to block the listing of the IT company, an act that he described as "sabotage".
'Negative propaganda'
"Blatantly put negative propaganda in the public space forced the JSE to look for a reason to stop this listing," Survé said at the time.
At the time it cancelled its listing, the JSE said a subsidiary of the company had not submitted its annual financial statements to the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission in time for the listing to go ahead. Survé said the group had submitted its statement.
Lebohang Molebatsi, General Manager for Listed Equities at the PIC, previously told the commission that engagements with Sagarmatha revealed that its valuation was significantly lower than the company's requested initial public offering, but Sagarmatha was not willing to lower their expectations.
In mid-March, Molebatsi said that a fair value was R7.06 per share, compared to the IPO asking price of R39.62 per share.
