MERGER talks between flag carrier Air Zimbabwe (AirZim) and
the dodgy Zimbabwe Airways (ZimAirways) to create a merged state-run airline
have collapsed after a nominee shareholder demanded to be paid US$2 million
from government, it has emerged.
Government announced last month that plans were underway to
merge the two airlines under a new strategy aimed at revitalising the country’s
moribund aviation industry.
However, sources said the plans went up in smoke after
Harare lawyer Phillipa Phillips, who is listed as a ZimAirways director, wrote
to the Transport Ministry informing that the merger would not proceed unless
she is paid US$2 million for the shares she held in the corruption-ridden
carrier.
A nominee shareholder is an ostensible or registered owner
who holds shares on behalf of the actual owner (beneficial owner) under a
custodial agreement. It was not immediately clear who in this case the actual
owner was.
Although Phillips’s letter could not be obtained at the
time of going to press, as officials maintained a tight lid on it, senior
officials from the Transport Ministry, which was brokering the deal, confirmed
the development in off-the-record briefings. They said Transport minister Joel
Biggie Matiza, who could not be reached for comment, is now making frantic
efforts to salvage the deal.
“She wrote to the ministry demanding a US$2 million payment
for shares she claims to nominally hold in the company. So the deal has
effectively been called off and that is why government has had to invite
private investors to come in,” a top ministry official said.
Phillips refused to comment when contacted by
businessdigest this week.
“I do not talk to the press about company issues, so this
conversation ends here. Please don’t quote me,” she retorted.
A merger is an agreement to unite two existing companies
into one new company. Mergers and acquisitions are commonly done to expand a
company’s reach, expand into new segments or gain market share in an effort to
create shareholder value.
The development brings yet another turn to the
controversial ownership of ZimAirways, which former Transport minister Joram
Gumbo in April claimed to be 100%-owned by government.
Before that, Gumbo had said the airline was a private
company owned by Zimbabweans based in the diaspora. He said it would be leasing
planes from the Zimbabwe Aviation Leasing Company, another government-owned
company.
However, there was no documentary evidence to prove his
assertion. The two companies’ profiles are missing from the Companies Registry.
Zimbabwe Independent
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