PIC and Ayo Technology win case as attempts to recoup R4.3bn declared unlawful

At the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday, a case against the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and AYO Technology Solutions was dismissed with costs.

Judge Cornelius van der Westhuizen ruled that a compliance notice issued on February 21, 2019, to the PIC by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) was unlawful.

The CIPC issued a notice in an attempt to recoup R4.3 billion in investment it made into Ayo Technology Solutions in 2017.

Judge van der Westhuizen said: “The compliance notice issued by the respondents on February 21, 2019, to the applicants is declared unlawful and of no force or effect. The compliance notice is set aside.”

In December 2017, the PIC, which manages the pensions of thousands of government employees, amounting to more than R2 trillion, decided to invest R4.3 billion in AYO Technology Solutions.

Independent Media owner Iqbal Survé and his family hold a major stake in AYO and suspended PIC staffer Victor Seanie, the former assistant portfolio manager at the PIC, told the inquiry into the PIC all due diligence went out the window when the deal was finally decided on.

He described an “unreasonably short time frame” taken to decide on AYO’s valuation, along with being unable to negotiate the R43 share price, and a disregard for following the proper channels.

Seanie said the investment in AYO was fraught with irregularities.

The company’s share price has halved since its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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