Aveng shareholders vote in favour of 14bn shares issue to pay off debt

Construction group Aveng’s shareholders on Monday voted in favour of the resolutions that will give effect to the specific issue of 14.5-billion Aveng ordinary shares.

These shares will be issued to the company’s existing bondholders as part of a process that will see the early redemption of Aveng’s existing convertible bonds that are due to mature in July 2019. Aveng on Monday reiterated that the implementation of the early bond redemption is in the best interest of all its stakeholders.

“This is a clear vote of confidence by our shareholders and completes one of the pillars of our strategic action plan,” said Aveng executive chairperson Eric Diack.

A key objective of the strategic action plan is to finalise a set of capital market transactions that will ensure a long-term sustainable capital structure for the group and the effect of the positive vote by shareholders is that R1.5-billion of debt will effectively be removed from Aveng’s balance sheet, providing a platform that allows the company to complete the execution of the remaining elements of the strategic plan.

The Aveng board and management are encouraged by the level of support for the plan from major stakeholders, including Aveng’s largest single shareholder, ATON, which has engaged with the company in a positive manner and has expressed support for Aveng’s continued independent future.