One stamp of approval left for Meikles hotel disposal

Fradreck Gorwe
The anticipated disposal of Meikles Hotel nears completion with the holding company, Meikles Limited, now awaiting approval from one more regulatory authority before a final wave by shareholders at an Extraordinary General meeting. Meikles Limited is set to sell its subsidiary, Meikles Hotel to a Dubai-based Albwardy Investment through its special vehicle ASB Hospitality in Zimbabwe.

The acquiring Albwardy made an initial offer in 2017 and since then considerations were underway.

In a cautionary statement released on  November 6, 2019, the company indicated it had received approval from “some of the regulatory authorities for the Meikles Hotel transaction”.

For some time, the company issued cautionary statements with updates of the transaction.

“Further to the cautionary statement published in the press on February 22, 2019 and subsequent updates on March 20, 2019; April 12, 2019; May 2, 2019; May 23, 2019; June 13, 2019; July 4, 2019; July 25, 2019; August 21, 2019; September 12, 2019; and October 3, 2019, the directors of Meikles Limited wish to advise shareholders that the company has received approval from some of the regulatory authorities for the Meikles Hotel transaction.

“The company is now awaiting responses from other regulatory authorities before seeking the approval of its shareholders for the proposed disposal at an Extraordinary General Meeting to be convened at a future date,” reads the latest cautionary statement.

Disposal by listed entities require prior approval by regulatory authorities namely, the Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC), the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SECZIM), the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

A company source claimed there is only one regulatory body yet to approve the transaction but did not disclose which of the relevant authorities it is.

“Yes, we got other approvals after the CTC one, there’s only one left,” revealed the source.

Our sister paper, The Sunday Mail, reported that CTC already approved the disposal transaction as contained in a board resolution released in June 2019.