PIC ordered to recover the R4.3bn it invested in AYO - report

Feb 26 2019 09:41
Fin24

AYO Technology Solutions says it has not seen a compliance notice referred to in a Business Day article ordering the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to recoup the R4.3bn it invested in the IT firm. 

Business Day reported on Tuesday morning that the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) ordered the directors of state-run asset manager the Public Investment Corporation to recover the R4.3bn it invested in late 2017. 

According to the newspaper, the compliance notice said that PIC directors had knowingly caused harm to Africa’s largest asset manager. 

Neither the PIC nor the CIPC immediately replied to a Fin24 request for comment on Tuesday morning. Fin24 has not seen the compliance notice. 

"AYO has not had sight of such compliance notice," the IT company said in an update to shareholders.

"AYO will formally respond via SENS to shareholders this morning, but believes the grounds for such recoupment have no merit and are baseless."

A controversial investment 

The PIC's decisions to invest in AYO Technology Solutions, in which businessman Iqbal Survé holds an indirect stake, has been interrogated in the ongoing judicial commission of inquiry into the PIC, chaired by former president of the Supreme Court of Appeal Justice Lex Mpati. 

On Monday the chair of the PIC board and Deputy Finance Minister Mondli Gungubele said the decision to invest in AYO "completely and blatantly flouted PIC governance and approval processes".

The JSE-listed firm's share price was unchanged in early trade on Tuesday at R17.99 a share. 

ayo  |  iqbal surve
NEXT ON FIN24X

 
 
 
 

Company Snapshot

Voting Booth

Do you think government can solve the Eskom crisis?

Previous results · Suggest a vote

Loading...