Kagiso makes offer for Juta

"We recently adopted a more proactive approach to managing our assets to enhance our ability to create value in the long term. As a result we repositioned our investment criteria to taking majority stakes and increasing our influence over these assets. This led to our announcement in September of our decision to sell our 50% holding in LexisNexis for R565 million," says Murphy Morobe, CEO, Kagiso Media. "This allowed us to pursue in earnest our long-established ambition to remain a key player in the information services sector by seeking an opportunity in which we will have a 100% controlling interest. Equally important was for this type of asset to also deliver on our strategic objective of revenue diversification, backed by assets having significant cash 'generative' abilities and good margins."

It was during these investigations that Kagiso Media engaged with Juta, which as it turned out, was also seeking to optimise its shareholding structure in the interests of its strategy to drive future growth, including an emphasis on growing its exposure in the new media environment. It was seeking potential partners that could offer synergies in this regard. Thereafter, Kagiso Media and Juta entered into discussions to investigate the potential for a transaction, culminating in the firm offer being made by Kagiso Media.

Long history

Juta's history dates back to 1853 and has since grown from a cramped shop in Wale Street, Cape Town into a leading South African provider of legal and regulatory information and reputedly the largest local publisher of quality student textbooks in the fields of commerce, accounting, communications, social science, health, education and the law. It also publishes peer-reviewed research relevant to Southern Africa under the UCT Press imprint and has a wide range of accredited training programmes and publications for adult learners. Juta Education provides an extensive range of educational products while Juta Bookshops and Jutaonline service the book needs of the school, academic, and professional communities.

The closing date for the transaction is expected to occur on or about 31 March 2012 and the conditions precedent include the completion of the sale agreement, regulatory approvals and the approvals by Juta shareholders in terms of a scheme of arrangement.

Further information is available on www.kagisomedia.co.za; also see www.juta.co.za/