Tanganda shareholders approves US$8m rights offer
LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Shareholders of publicly traded tea producer Tanganda Tea Company Limited have approved a plan to raise US$8m through a renounceable rights offer, a decisive move expected to ease the company’s strained working capital position and unlock long-delayed recapitalisation efforts.
A renounceable rights offer allows existing shareholders to subscribe for additional shares in proportion to their current holdings or sell those rights to other investors.
The structure enables a company to raise fresh capital while limiting excessive dilution and giving current investors the first opportunity to preserve their ownership levels.
The resolution was yesterday passed unanimously at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held in Harare, clearing the way for the transaction to proceed.
The rights offer is scheduled to open on February 24, 2026, and close on March 17, 2026.
Should the offer not achieve full subscription, the underwriter, Rutanhi Beverages, will be required to take up any shortfall. The firm is a subsidiary of cash-rich diversified conglomerate Innscor Africa Limited.
The underwriting arrangement carries significant strategic implications. If Rutanhi emerges with 35% of Tanganda’s total issued shares, it would gain the threshold required to initiate a compulsory buyout of minority shareholders, potentially paving the way for Innscor to assume effective control of the tea producer.
Innscor is already positioned to secure a substantial equity foothold through its role as underwriter to the capital raise, underscoring the transaction’s potential to reshape Tanganda’s shareholding structure.
The offer will involve the issuance of 263,821,324 new ordinary shares at a subscription price of US$0.0303 per share, on the basis of one new share for every 0.9896 shares held as at the February 23, 2026 record date.
Shareholders also approved a resolution placing any remaining authorised but unissued shares under the control of the board, granting directors authority to allot and issue such shares as they deem fit, subject to statutory and listing requirements, until the next annual general meeting.
