Durban - Taste Holdings, which owns the Scooters Pizza and Maxi’s brands, will use the R30 million it hopes to raise through a listing on the JSE’s AltX exchange in June to make further acquisitions.
Carlo Gonzaga, the managing director of Taste Holdings, said yesterday: “We hope to raise between R20 million and R30 million to facilitate our long-term strategy, which is to grow the existing business and acquire other businesses.
“There is likely to be an acquisition within the next year, but we do not have a specific target.”
The listing will also enable empowerment shareholders to be brought on board, although this will not be done initially.
Gonzaga said: “We are not doing an empowerment deal at the listing stage, but it is one of the reasons for listing. As a listed company, it will be an easier route to empowerment than as a private company.”
Scooters, which was established in 2000, now has 83 franchise outlets and Maxi’s, which was bought last year, has grown from 28 stores to 39.
Gonzaga said: “We learnt our lesson a long time ago about poor sites. So while we are being aggressive in opening new stores, we are being selective about the sites.”
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