Banker Nicholas Vingirai is set to join the board of ZB Financial Holdings Limited (ZBFH) alongside two nominees of his investment vehicle, Transnational Holding Limited (THL), a move which will trigger a shake up at the financial services group.
BY NDAMU SANDU
THL is set to get a 26% stake in ZBFH as compensation for losing Intermarket Holdings Limited (IHL) more than a decade ago.
Standardbusiness heard last week that Vingirai, Michael Mahachi and Zororo Muranda will join the ZBFH board, which is chaired by Thamsanqa Mpofu.
Mahachi is a property developer while Muranda is a professor and dean at the school of Entrepreneurship and Business Sciences at Chinhoyi University Technology.
The entry of the trio will bring the number on the board to nine from six, inclusive of group CEO Ron Mutandagayi and finance director Fanuel Kapanje.
The entry of Vingirai, Mahachi and Muranda on the board is set to trigger a restructuring exercise at the financial services group to steer the ship in a new direction.
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“Some board members will depart at some point while there may be changes at management level in order to steer the ship in a new direction,” the source said.
THL becomes the second largest shareholder in the group after the National Social Security Authority at 37,79% shareholding.
ZBFH wholly owns ZB Bank Limited, ZB Reinsurance Limited, ZB Transfer Secretaries, ZB Capital and ZB Associated Services. It has a 75,33% stake in ZB Building Society and 64% shareholding in ZB Life Assurance. It also has interests in Mashonaland Holdings, Credit Insurance Zimbabwe and Cell Holdings
IHL was bought by ZBFH with the transaction concluded in 2006. This was after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had bailed out IHL’s subsidiaries and later converted the debt into equity under a High Court scheme of arrangement.
The banker was alleged to have fled the country at the height of former central bank chief Gideon Gono’s crusade to weed the sector of “errant bankers”. This resulted in a number of bankers leaving the country. The externalisation charges were later withdrawn by authorities.
THL has been battling to retain its assets for the past decade and the latest development brings to an end one of the longest corporate fights since independence.
Vingirai is a banker of repute and was instrumental in the setting up of financial institutions in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana and Nigeria among others.
Under the Commonwealth Secretariat’s General Technical Assistance programme for Ghana, Vingirai was technical advisor to Consolidated Discount House Ltd, the first discount house in Ghana from 1986 to 1990. He chairs the Ghanaian discount house. Vingirai was also advisor to First Securities Discount House Ltd, the first discount house in Nigeria between 1995 and 2000.
