By Tiisetso Motsoeneng

Clearwater Capital has acquired 80% of the C units held by the ApexHi BEE Trust in a transaction that sees four beneficiaries share 74,8 million rand profit only six months after the trust's inception, ApexHi said.

Clearwater Capital is one of the black economic empowerment unit holders in ApexHi Properties Limited (APA).

The four ApexHi BEE Trust beneficiaries are CIDA Empowerment Fund, MaAfrika Tikkunn, Makhulong A Matala and Soul City Broad Based Empowerment Company.

When ApexHI listed its C unit in October last year, 30% of them were sold to BEE partners at a unit price of two rand per unit. Clearwater Capital took half of the 30% stake and the ApexHI Trust held another half.

"The trust was founded by ApexHi to reflect its commitment to broad- based black economic empowerment and transformation within South Africa, and aimed to create value for the beneficiaries over a period of about five years," said ApexHi CEO Gerald Leissner.

He added that the rapid increase in the share price of the C units had created an opportunity to unlock significant capital value for the beneficiaries.

All the beneficiaries - except for the Disability Empowerment Concerns Trust (DEC) - have participated in the transaction and have received 18.7 million rand each.

DEC CEO, Mike du Toit, said the DEC is a long-term investor.

Following the transaction, 30% of the ApexHi C units still reside within the BEE structure, representing 10% of the voting rights in ApexHi. 90% of these units are now owned by Clearwater Capital - one of the largest voting shareholders in ApexHi - and 10% are owned by the ApexHi BEE Trust which is now only represented by the DEC.

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