CAPE TOWN – JSE-listed tech firm EOH Holdings has blacklisted 50 companies from doing business with it after an investigation into previous corrupt dealings, the company said in a statement on the Stock Exchange News Service (SENS) on Tuesday.
EOH said it planned to sell a further R1 billion of non-core businesses in 2020 as it reorganises and reduces debt.
The company’s chief executive officer Stephen van Coller said it would structure operations into three units and sell assets that do not fit with the revised set up. He said the company had already sold 15 assets generating about R750 million.
“We managed to strike a new deal with the banks last week, where 75 percent of sales goes to the banks and the other 25 percent will be used to grow the business,” said Van Coller. “Two years from now, the business will have gross debt of less than 1.5 billion rand.”
In July EOH reported that suspicious transactions to the value of R1.2 billion had been identified. The company said suspicious transactions were now valued at R935 million, 22 percent less than initial estimate of R1.2 billion.
The amount includes transactions with no evidence of valid contracts being in place or where no work was done, valued at R665 million. The company said R90 million of loans written off and overbilling valued at about R180 million.
“The legal firm’s investigation team have also been able to confirm the key modus operandi that was utilized by the main perpetrators to commit wrongdoing at EOH which involved enterprise development partners and intermediaries,” reads the SENS statement.
EOH stock has plunged 59 percent this year.