Business / Local
Corporate Raiding Plot Unraveling: Nssa and RTG Directors Meet to Tackle Manipulation of Share Prices and Takeover Attempt
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NATIONAL Social Security Authority (Nssa) and Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) directors and management executives are set to meet today to deal with the plot to take over the tourism and hospitality giant through destabilisation and manipulation of the company and its share price to knock down its value for the taking.
Public Service, Labour and Social ministry sources told The NewsHawks the meeting will include Nssa and RTG board members and senior managers.
"There is a meeting set for today between Nssa and RTG directors and executives to discuss the clandestine bid to take over the tourism company at an undervalued price through manipulation of its internal issues, processes and stock market dynamics to create a negative sentiment to enable cheap buying of a controlling stake," a ministry official said.
This comes as Nssa chairman Emmanuel Fundira's plan to swoop on RTG shares at a cheap price is now unravelling as authorities intervene to stop the calculated corporate raiding conspiracy.
Public Service minister Edgar Moyo says he is closely monitoring the situation after The NewsHawks' exposé.
The NewsHawks reported last week Fundira is manoeuvring with a former RTG senior employee Paula January and his business partners to seize control of the hospitality company through an engineered and manipulated shares-buying scheme.
Although Fundira and Paula January claimed not to know each other and be aware of what is happening at RTG, evidence shows they do and are working together on the issue.
The NewsHawks has documents and audios showing the two's collaboration to knock down the share price to facilitate their plan.
As a result, they reported RTG company's executives to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) over their fat salaries and benefits to create an internal storm to plummet its shares and buy them cheap.
Nssa is the major shareholder in RTG, with a 91,6% equity in the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed company.
Nssa, a statutory pension fund, is however planning to offload 56% of its shares, over time, hence plot to devalue its shares to accumulate them cheaply through manipulative buying.
ZHL Capital, which is part of ZimRe Holdings, is Nssa's financial advisory firm in the disposal of its 56%.
Nssa is talking to several potential buyers locally and internationally, but Fundira and his business allies have been using insider information ahead of the disposal to position themselves for a clandestine takeover.
Fundira has been working closely with Paula January to destabilise the company and achieve their objective.
The NewsHawks went through documents and listened to audios where Paula January is heard informing people that Zacc would investigate RTG executives, well before the actual investigation started.
She also revealed she had RTG executives' salaries, allowances and gratuity payment details in her possession, including the exact amounts.
In one part of the revealing audio, she is heard talking to someone saying, "Fundira, Fundira, Fundira" as she scrolls down her emails to find the information and figures.
Paula January resigned from RTG in a huff after the hotelier launched an internal investigation into a suspicious child drowning incident at Kadoma Hotel and Conference Centre in 2019 where she was the general manager.
The NewsHawks' story first published this past week exposed Fundira's strategy to take control of RTG, attendant conflict of interest and dirty tactics employed, forcing him to go into a damage limitation exercise to manage the fallout.
Fundira has been scrambling reach out to Moyo, and Nssa and RTG executives to deal with the disclosures.
Ministry sources say as a result Fundira will today meet RTG and Nssa directors and executives for a crisis management engagement.
The firefighting meeting will seek to amicably resolve issues, while ensuring Fundira is stopped in his tracks.
The NewsHawks also understands that Moyo is concerned by the situation and has sought to understand the goings-on at RTG and Nssa.
Moyo is still new at the ministry, having been appointed only last month.
In an interview, Moyo confirmed he was "watching closely" what was going on at Nssa and its hospitality asset, RTG.
"We are watching the space," Moyo told NewsHawks.
"We are watching very closely, but we don't want to micro-manage the situation. We are checking what is going-on and we are getting information from the board because Nssa has a full board.
"Since Nssa falls under our ministry, we are checking and watching the space, but we want to fully understand the situation and not to rush into decisions. Remember, I am only two months into the ministry, so I don't want to rush."
Fundira, who is deeply intertwined in hospitality activities, is conflicted as former African Sun chair with residual interest on the one hand; and current chair of Nssa which controls RTG on the other.
African Sun, which was ZSE-listed until 2023, is now listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange. It runs 10 hotels.
Fundira is a leading safari industry operator and has tourism assets in South Africa and has indirect interest in African Sun business affairs.
In addition, he is heavily invested in the hospitality and tourism industry. Fundira owns and is chief executive of Astoc Leisure Group.
Furthermore, he is also the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe president and past chairperson of the Zimbabwe Council of Tourism.
Upon taking over Nssa, he signed an agreement not to be involved in hospitality issues as RTG is a competitor to African Sun.
He is however meddling in hospitality affairs in violation of the agreement.
Zacc has launched an investigation into alleged money laundering against RTG and its executives at his behest through Paula January.
The allegations basically involve a series of payments in salaries, gratuities, allowances and bonuses, some of them backdated due to lagging remunerations caused by the Covid -19 global pandemic and cashflows constraints.
The anti-corruption body has obtained a search and seizure warrant, authorising its officers to seize payroll records, employment contracts, and other financial documents related to top RTG executives.
RTG has been cooperating with Zacc through the board, but is challenging the warrant which it sees as a witch-hunting exercise driven by external forces with ulterior motives and vested interest.
Market watchers say Fundira and Paula January instigated the investigations through behind-the-scenes manoeuvres to create internal turmoil within RTG and fuel negative market sentiment to erode share value to facilitate a cheap takeover.
The destabilisation will help knock down stock value, aiding and abetting the planned incremental process of buying of Nssa shares put on public offer.
Manipulation of share prices to undervalue stock and take over a company is illegal in Zimbabwe and many other countries.
Corporate raiders however still find ways to drive down and undervalue shares to take over companies at cheap prices.
Nssa has diversified interests in banking, finance, real estate, hospitality and housing sectors.
Fundira came in at a time RTG was seeking to expand by, among other things, acquiring Montclaire Hotel in Nyanga. Nssa, through its subsidiary National Building Society, is however stalling the acquisition by delaying to guarantee the availability of cash despite promising to do so.
The group is also seeking external investors, but the timing of the Zacc investigation is seen as an external attempt to scuttle plans.
Because of his interests in the tourism industry, the Office of The President and Cabinet specifically barred the Nssa chair from involving himself in Nssa's tourism interests, including at RTG.
He signed a subsidiary agreement with Nssa on that.
His appointment letter dated 21 August 2023, states "Dr Fundira should recuse himself from any Nssa decisions that have a bearing on the tourism sector where he has vast personal interests."
But audios suggest Fundira has been supplying Paula January with sensitive information, including payroll details in pursuit of his agenda, now doomed to fail.
Public Service, Labour and Social ministry sources told The NewsHawks the meeting will include Nssa and RTG board members and senior managers.
"There is a meeting set for today between Nssa and RTG directors and executives to discuss the clandestine bid to take over the tourism company at an undervalued price through manipulation of its internal issues, processes and stock market dynamics to create a negative sentiment to enable cheap buying of a controlling stake," a ministry official said.
This comes as Nssa chairman Emmanuel Fundira's plan to swoop on RTG shares at a cheap price is now unravelling as authorities intervene to stop the calculated corporate raiding conspiracy.
Public Service minister Edgar Moyo says he is closely monitoring the situation after The NewsHawks' exposé.
The NewsHawks reported last week Fundira is manoeuvring with a former RTG senior employee Paula January and his business partners to seize control of the hospitality company through an engineered and manipulated shares-buying scheme.
Although Fundira and Paula January claimed not to know each other and be aware of what is happening at RTG, evidence shows they do and are working together on the issue.
The NewsHawks has documents and audios showing the two's collaboration to knock down the share price to facilitate their plan.
As a result, they reported RTG company's executives to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) over their fat salaries and benefits to create an internal storm to plummet its shares and buy them cheap.
Nssa is the major shareholder in RTG, with a 91,6% equity in the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed company.
Nssa, a statutory pension fund, is however planning to offload 56% of its shares, over time, hence plot to devalue its shares to accumulate them cheaply through manipulative buying.
ZHL Capital, which is part of ZimRe Holdings, is Nssa's financial advisory firm in the disposal of its 56%.
Nssa is talking to several potential buyers locally and internationally, but Fundira and his business allies have been using insider information ahead of the disposal to position themselves for a clandestine takeover.
Fundira has been working closely with Paula January to destabilise the company and achieve their objective.
The NewsHawks went through documents and listened to audios where Paula January is heard informing people that Zacc would investigate RTG executives, well before the actual investigation started.
She also revealed she had RTG executives' salaries, allowances and gratuity payment details in her possession, including the exact amounts.
In one part of the revealing audio, she is heard talking to someone saying, "Fundira, Fundira, Fundira" as she scrolls down her emails to find the information and figures.
Paula January resigned from RTG in a huff after the hotelier launched an internal investigation into a suspicious child drowning incident at Kadoma Hotel and Conference Centre in 2019 where she was the general manager.
The NewsHawks' story first published this past week exposed Fundira's strategy to take control of RTG, attendant conflict of interest and dirty tactics employed, forcing him to go into a damage limitation exercise to manage the fallout.
Fundira has been scrambling reach out to Moyo, and Nssa and RTG executives to deal with the disclosures.
Ministry sources say as a result Fundira will today meet RTG and Nssa directors and executives for a crisis management engagement.
The firefighting meeting will seek to amicably resolve issues, while ensuring Fundira is stopped in his tracks.
The NewsHawks also understands that Moyo is concerned by the situation and has sought to understand the goings-on at RTG and Nssa.
Moyo is still new at the ministry, having been appointed only last month.
In an interview, Moyo confirmed he was "watching closely" what was going on at Nssa and its hospitality asset, RTG.
"We are watching very closely, but we don't want to micro-manage the situation. We are checking what is going-on and we are getting information from the board because Nssa has a full board.
"Since Nssa falls under our ministry, we are checking and watching the space, but we want to fully understand the situation and not to rush into decisions. Remember, I am only two months into the ministry, so I don't want to rush."
Fundira, who is deeply intertwined in hospitality activities, is conflicted as former African Sun chair with residual interest on the one hand; and current chair of Nssa which controls RTG on the other.
African Sun, which was ZSE-listed until 2023, is now listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange. It runs 10 hotels.
Fundira is a leading safari industry operator and has tourism assets in South Africa and has indirect interest in African Sun business affairs.
In addition, he is heavily invested in the hospitality and tourism industry. Fundira owns and is chief executive of Astoc Leisure Group.
Furthermore, he is also the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe president and past chairperson of the Zimbabwe Council of Tourism.
Upon taking over Nssa, he signed an agreement not to be involved in hospitality issues as RTG is a competitor to African Sun.
He is however meddling in hospitality affairs in violation of the agreement.
Zacc has launched an investigation into alleged money laundering against RTG and its executives at his behest through Paula January.
The allegations basically involve a series of payments in salaries, gratuities, allowances and bonuses, some of them backdated due to lagging remunerations caused by the Covid -19 global pandemic and cashflows constraints.
The anti-corruption body has obtained a search and seizure warrant, authorising its officers to seize payroll records, employment contracts, and other financial documents related to top RTG executives.
RTG has been cooperating with Zacc through the board, but is challenging the warrant which it sees as a witch-hunting exercise driven by external forces with ulterior motives and vested interest.
Market watchers say Fundira and Paula January instigated the investigations through behind-the-scenes manoeuvres to create internal turmoil within RTG and fuel negative market sentiment to erode share value to facilitate a cheap takeover.
The destabilisation will help knock down stock value, aiding and abetting the planned incremental process of buying of Nssa shares put on public offer.
Manipulation of share prices to undervalue stock and take over a company is illegal in Zimbabwe and many other countries.
Corporate raiders however still find ways to drive down and undervalue shares to take over companies at cheap prices.
Nssa has diversified interests in banking, finance, real estate, hospitality and housing sectors.
Fundira came in at a time RTG was seeking to expand by, among other things, acquiring Montclaire Hotel in Nyanga. Nssa, through its subsidiary National Building Society, is however stalling the acquisition by delaying to guarantee the availability of cash despite promising to do so.
The group is also seeking external investors, but the timing of the Zacc investigation is seen as an external attempt to scuttle plans.
Because of his interests in the tourism industry, the Office of The President and Cabinet specifically barred the Nssa chair from involving himself in Nssa's tourism interests, including at RTG.
He signed a subsidiary agreement with Nssa on that.
His appointment letter dated 21 August 2023, states "Dr Fundira should recuse himself from any Nssa decisions that have a bearing on the tourism sector where he has vast personal interests."
But audios suggest Fundira has been supplying Paula January with sensitive information, including payroll details in pursuit of his agenda, now doomed to fail.
Source - NewsHawks
