Cape Town - A company that the Sekunjalo Group "disposed of" in 2007 has appeared in the Panama Papers, and has been linked to various other offshore entities.
The company, called Sekunjalo Capital International Limited, and variations of that name are mentioned four times in a searchable database of the leaked documents hosted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Sekunjalo told News24 via email that "the group did attempt an African expansion of its financial services business a number of years ago, but... decided to abandon the expansion for commercial reasons".
"Pursuant to this decision, all entities owned by the group offshore were disposed of almost nine years ago. All regulatory approvals were obtained at the time for both the expansion and the disposal," it said.
"We... recall that when we disposed of Sekunjalo Capital International Limited in 2007, we required the purchaser to change the name of the company to not include the word Sekunjalo."
Linked to Sekunjalo Capital International Limited on the database were the shareholders Zaken Consulting Services Limited and Talon Africa Limited, while another entry for "Sekunjalo Capital (PTY) LTD" had Dale Capital Partners Holding Limited as a shareholder.
One entry for "TFG Capital Limited Previously Known As Sekunjalo Capital International Limited" listed Riverstone Alternative Solutions Limited as a shareholder.
"We can confirm that the Sekunjalo Group has no relationship, directly or indirectly, with any of the entities that were listed," it told News24.
"From documents we have been able to locate in this short space of time, we can confirm that the Sekunjalo Group did own shares in Bella Investment Services Limited and Sekunjalo Capital International Limited (both incorporated in Mauritius).
"We also understand that Sekunjalo Capital International Limited held a minority interest in Riverstone Alternative Solutions. We have consulted our executives who were around in 2007 and we do not recognise any of the other names... save for Dale Capital Partners Holdings Limited (this is the company we sold the Mauritian entities back to in 2007)."
Sekunjalo told News24 that the international expansion of its business is "no different to that of other South African companies expanding offshore".