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September 8 - The financial world in South Africa lifted an eyebrow just before last weekend when Cape Empowerment Trust (CET), announced that it would be selling off its minority holding in Grand Parade Investments.
The move comes as a surprise as CET made no secret of the fact that it was going after lucrative gambling and gaming assets over the past three years. Its acquisition of Grande Parade Investments stocks was seen as a continuation of this policy, and it is still unclear why CET suddenly decided to do away with these shares at this moment in time.
Grand Parade Investments, which has a majority holding in the popular Grand West casino in Cape Town, as well as other smaller casinos dotted around the country, is due to announce its financial results sometime this week and analysts are questioning whether CET's timing of the sale has anything to do with these results.
Since becoming a publicly listed company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange several months ago, Grand Parade Investments has been trading relatively weakly. It is for this reason, in all likelihood, that CET has decided not to sell its shares on the open market and instead go for what is known as a 'competitive process'. This strategy essentially has the company considering all the offers for Grand Parade Investments shares and selling to the highest bidder.
When asked about backing out of the gaming industry, CET Chief Executive Officer, Shaun Rai said that the company preferred investing in other sectors such as property and security. He hastened to assure, however, that GPI is still "a very attractive company".
CET stands to make a good profit out of the sale of GPI shares, of which it holds approximately 50 million. If a fair enough offer is received, the group could make up to R200 million on the sale. Rai said that the money would be used to reinvest in existing businesses and reduce debt.
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