At the same time as Telemetrix Plc has been granted a listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange under the name TXE, Allied Electronics Corp of South Africa, the white knight that rescued Telemetrix back in 1988 (CI No 923), is making a renounceable offer to its own shareholders to enable them to acquire 51.2m Telemetrix shares on a pro-rata basis. This will reduce Altron’s holding to 7.2% from 66.6%. Trading in the letters of allocation on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange will take place in the run-up period to the listing between November 4 and November 27. Altron is a subsidiary of Ventron Corp Ltd which is majority owned by Dr William Venter. Following the renounceable offer to Altron shareholders at Rands 1.40 per share, the equivalent of 26.15 pence, Dr Venter and his family trusts will have an interest of between 24% and 59% of Telemetrix, depending on the extent to which other shareholders in Altron take up their entitlement. The High Wycombe-based company says that Dr Venter, who will be underwriting the renounceable offer, is making a financial commitment of some UKP13m. According to Cyril Newnham, chairman of Telemetrix Plc, the wider share ownership and South African listing won’t change Telemetrix’ strategy, but it does mean that the founder and chairman of Altron is now directly involved with Telemetrix.
