Online Reporter
Nelson Gahadza-Senior Business Reporter
CBZ Holdings will consider other potential acquisitions after the Competitions and Tariff Commission (CTC) ruled against its plans to acquire additional shares in First Mutual Holdings (FML) through a mandatory offer.
CTC resolved that CBZH should maintain its 31,22 percent shareholding in FML, as initially approved by the commission.
Group chief executive officer Mr (CEO) Mr Lawrence Nyazema, in an interview on the sidelines of a media engagement yesterday, said the acquisition of FMHL was conceived as part of the group’s diversification and business growth strategy.
“We just wanted to thicken that diversification by buying an insurance, a property, and another investment business and then combining them with what we have.
“Now that we are not going to be able to do that merger, we are now saying, how else can we achieve the same? It may take a little longer, and we may have to look at other partners.
“But our intention is just to grow our business, deepen our presence in Zimbabwe, and enter the international markets,” he said.
Mr Nyazema said the group was also awaiting the outcome of the CTC ruling on the acquisition of ZB Holdings, with the determination of the CTC decision expected by the end of this week.
He noted that one of the drawbacks for CBZ Holdings was that since 1980 it had not established a sustainable business outside the country.
“We have put up an asset management business in Mauritius, we have a representative office in South Africa, but we now want to start underwriting business in the region and broader, and you will see us diversifying away from Zimbabwe.
“You are also likely to see us diversifying away from the bank. The average person refers to the CBZ group as a bank. But we would want them to think of insurance, Agro-Yield, asset management, and the services that we are providing out of South Africa, should we go there and even Botswana,” said Mr Nyazema.
He also noted that the group’s restructuring exercise will be completed by January next year, and the company, in terms of business strategy, is looking at significantly growing its balance sheet over the next four or five years.
“Ideally we would want to double our balance sheet, and again ideally we are looking at doubling our bottom line over that period, and that growth will come from Zimbabwe and the region,” he said.
Mr Nyazema said the group was optimistic about next year and that the sector needed to come up with solutions that draw sustainable deposits from the informal sector.
“Because, for example, when somebody goes to a fast-food outlet, they take their informal money, they buy fast food, the deposit comes, but the deposit quickly disappears, therefore, we need to find ways of keeping those informal sector deposits so that our overall deposits go up,” he said.
He added that there is also a need to draw more lines of credit because those are the two sources of growth.
“We also want to be coming up with products in insurance, in CBZ Agro-Yield, (and) in all our businesses for the informal sector,” said Mr Nyazema.
Mr Nyazema said by the end of next year, CBZ would be in other markets jurisdictions other than Zimbabwe. Any of the group’s businesses could take the lead.
“It can be insurance, it can be agro-yield, or the rep office in South Africa, or through the asset management business in Mauritius; we think we have the basic structure that can take us into the region,” he said.
Mr Nyazema also said phase one of the development of its Northgate housing project, which has about 8 000 stands, had been completed.
He said after completing phases two and three, construction would commence, providing the full suite of key services, including roads and water.
CBZ also wants to deliver a self-sustaining community in terms of power supply.
