Fairvest Property Holdings Limited (JSE:FVT) made an offer to acquire Safari Investments RSA Limited (JSE:SAR) in a reverse merger transaction on March 28, 2019. Under the terms of the offer, the shareholders of Fairvest Property Holdings Limited will receive 0.45 shares for every Fairvest share. Post completion of the transaction, Fairvest Property Holdings Limited will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Safari and the shares of Fairvest Property will be delisted.

Fairvest Chief Executive Officer Darren Wilder would become Chief Executive Officer of the merged company while Safari Chief Executive Officer Dirk Engelbrecht would be its Chief Operating Officer. The companies intend to keep their management teams and executive committees and then merge them over time. Fairvest would retain its head office in Cape Town and Safari would remain headquartered in Pretoria.

An independent board consisting of Louis Andrag, Ndabe Mkhize, Jacob Wiese, Trevor Cohen and Khegu Nkuna has been appointed by Fairvest to advise the shareholders. The transaction is subject to approval by the shareholders of Safari Investments RSA Limited and Fairvest Property Holdings Limited and appointment of the independent expert to provide fairness opinion. The transaction is subject to listing of shares of Safari that form the part of scheme consideration, regulatory and statutory approvals.

The transaction is subject to approval by third party. The transaction is subject to approval by the Board of Fairvest, court approval and subject to approval from South African Competition authorities. The transaction is expected to complete by December 31, 2019.

Java Capital acted as financial advisor for Fairvest and Safari on the aspect of the merger. Nedbank Cib acted as financial advisor to Safari Investments RSA Limited. Webber Wentzel acted as legal advisor to Safari Investments RSA Limited.