SA Ladder | South Africa's largest manufacturer of castors and ladders

SA LADDER ENTERS BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT DEAL

LEADING manufacturer SA Ladder has sold a 26% stake in the family-owned business to black economic empowerment company Fixtrade 726 in a move that paves the way for expansions and exports into Africa.
The deal, effective April 1 for an undisclosed sum, brings on to the board Mandela Dlamini & Associates (MDA) director Prince Muzi Dlamini as chairman, entrepreneur and sports doctor Dr Clarence Sello Motaung, businessman Sifiso Vincent Shongwe as alternate director and Global Resorts Casino Empowerment Group founder Templeton Mageza.

Fixtrade 726 is a wholly black-owned broad-based empowerment company. Established in 1992, SA Ladder currently has more than 55% market share of the fibreglass and aluminium ladder market, as well as holding a significant share of the industrial castor and trolley markets. SA Ladder director Jonathan Duncan said the deal allowed the group to expand into Africa via SA Ladder and Fixtrade 726 as well as tendering on projects related to the 2010 World Cup Soccer and the Gautrain initiative.

Specialising in business consulting services, MDA lobbies for international investment in southern African markets and facilitates South African trade into global markets. Alongside his wife Princess Zenani Mandela, Dlamini has represented his parents-in-law Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and his brother King Mswati III of Swaziland within the international business community.

Motaung has served as the chairman of the National Olympic Committee of South Africa (Nocsa) medical commission and the Sports Science and Medical committee as well as being the team doctor to national soccer team Bafana Bafana and the Orlando Pirates Football Club.

Shongwe has consulted to the Gauteng provincial government on the multi-billion-rand Gautrain initiative and spent time on secondment to the co-advisors NM Rothschild & Sons in London.

An attorney, Mageza has represented parastatals Transnet and Telkom and local government, as well as being an advisor on several privatisation deals including Metro Gas and Kelvin Power A&B. Jonathan Duncan said the deal would be a catalyst for boosting turnover two to three times, while acquiring new businesses and exporting into southern Africa and abroad. Management aimed for a medium-term listing on the JSE Securities Exchange.