Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital Investments (ARCI) plans to delist from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), offering shareholders R9.75 per share.

ARCI is incorporated in Mauritius, and its principal activity is to act as an investment pooling vehicle. It invests indirectly as the only limited partner in the ARC Fund, which in turn invests in a diversified portfolio of unlisted and listed investments. 

Fin24 reports that reports that ARC Investments is majority owned by African Rainbow Capital (ARC), which is, in turn, 100% owned by Ubuntu-Botho Investments (UBI).

ARC is a fully black-owned and controlled company founded in 2015 by billionaire Patrice Motsepe.

ARC Investments was listed on the JSE on 7 September 2017 at R8.50 per share. Since then, investors have experienced a bumpy ride. The ARCI share price declined to around R2.50 in March 2020 and then increased to around R9.50 by December 2024.

The ARC management team has consistently complained that the share is trading at a significant discount to its net asset value.

BusinessTech reports that the R9.75 per share offer is a 12.6% premium relative to Monday's close and values ARC Investments at R14.8bn.

It would leave its Motsepe-founded UBI, which has about 60.51% of its shares indirectly, in control.  But it is also a discount of 22.8% to its net asset value as of the end of December.

ARC Investments' main holdings are in TymeBank and its global operations, as well as Rain, the data-only mobile network. It also holds stakes in Alexander Forbes, Sanlam's third-party asset management, as well as Capital Legacy, one of SA's largest estate administrators.

ARC was founded by Motsepe, along with two former Sanlam veterans, in 2015 – and is that financial services giant's empowerment partner.

It had said in 2024, it would be spending the next year considering whether to stay listed. The shares of the group were trading at about a 30% discount at the end of December.

‘In spite of the substantial narrowing of the discount at which ARC Investments yesterday said that at the time of its listing, its rationale for domiciling in Mauritius was the country's business-friendly environment and ability to attract offshore investors, as well as to facilitate investments outside SA. This strategy has not materialised to the extent expected, with most investments in SA, and the cost to operate in Mauritius have become increasingly expensive.'

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