Online Reporter
Tapiwanashe Mangwiro
Imara Asset Management Zimbabwe’s chief executive officer, Mr John Legat, will retire from his position on June 30, 2025, after 27 years at the helm.
During his tenure, he transformed a boutique advisory outfit into one of the country’s foremost asset managers.
A statement issued by the Imara board said the firm paid tribute to his foundational role.
“John Legat founded Imara in 1998 and has built Imara into one of the most significant players in the Zimbabwe asset management industry,” the company said.
The firm added that it would retain him as both a non-executive director and consultant to management to ensure clients and staff continue to benefit from his invaluable expertise.
Mr Shelton Sibanda, who has served Imara for 16 years and has risen through the ranks to become the chief investment officer in 2022, will take over as CEO from July 1.
Imara noted that: “Shelton has demonstrated exceptional leadership and investment acumen,” and highlighted his tenure as chairman of the Association of Investment Managers of Zimbabwe.
A CFA charter-holder, Mr Sibanda is credited with helping to grow the firm’s institutional and pension-fund assets to over US$335 million as of March 2022, a track record that underpins the board’s confidence in his appointment.
Mr Legat’s career at Imara was defined by strategic expansion, marquee transactions and innovative fund management.
Shortly after relocating to Harare in 1997, he launched Imara Asset Management Zimbabwe and by 1998 had established the pan-African Imara African Opportunities Fund.
He described the acquisition of a 49 percent stake in Lusaka’s Equity Capital Resources as a logical step into asset management, a move that in 2015–2016 created Imara ECR Asset Management under Zambia’s Pensions & Insurance Authority.
Earlier, he led Imara’s 25 percent investment in Stockbrokers Zambia, signalling a regional growth strategy that pre-dated many competitors.
Under Mr Legat’s stewardship, Imara advised on more than 42 capital-raising mandates valued at over US$2,5 billion, including high-profile debt issuances such as the two oversubscribed Honde Hydro Power bonds (US$15 million) in 2017–2018, structured to attract local institutional investors with Prescribed Asset Status.
In the equity arena, Imara guided Tiger Consumer Brands on its investment in National Foods and orchestrated Barclays Plc’s divestment of its controlling stake in Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe to FMB Capital Holdings in 2017.
Imara’s merger and acquisition portfolio under Mr Legat included advising on the sale of a 26 percent stake in Transerv to Innscor Africa in 2015, where the firm managed valuation, due diligence and covenant negotiations.
In 2014, the group executed a strategic divestiture of its Johannesburg-based broking arm, selling Imara SP Reid to MMI Strategic Investments for approximately US$10,25 million, a premium of more than 40 percent to net asset value.
Perhaps Mr Legat’s most transformative deal came in 2024 with the acquisition of Kura Capital, integrating the Kura Africa Fund into Imara’s flagship offering and vaulting the combined entity to over US$200 million in assets under management.
This pan-African consolidation underscored his ambition to elevate Imara from a regional specialist to a continent-wide fund manager. Reflecting on the transition, Imara remarked, “We would like to wish John the very best for his retirement and congratulate Shelton on his promotion and wish him well in this position.”
By making a non-executive director and retaining him as a consultant, the firm ensures continuity of vision even as Mr Sibanda takes the helm.
As passes the baton, Imara Asset Management Zimbabwe is poised for its next chapter, of a seamless leadership change that honours the legacy of its founder while entrusting its growth to a proven internal talent, one whose mandate will be to build on a quarter-century of landmark deals and steadfast client focus.
dyton mupawaenda