Altron has named Andrew Holden as the successor to Rob Abraham at its subsidiary, Bytes Technology Group. The long-serving Abraham will step down as Bytes CEO on 29 February 2016, with Holden to step in as operations executive for information technology.

In recent years, Bytes, under Abraham’s leadership, has been the only real bright spot at Altron as its Altech and Powertech businesses have come under significant financial pressure.

Abraham, who joined Bytes in 1998 and who has been in the IT sector for more than 30 years, will remain at the helm during the transition period until his retirement, and Holden will remain as Altron executive for shared services until he takes up his new role on 1 March 2016 — the start of Altron’s 2017 financial year.

Before being appointed as head of shared services in November 2013, Holden held senior positions as MD of various Bytes subsidiaries.

Holden said that Bytes’ “continued success” lies in its “astute leadership team comprised of experienced MDs each supported by their own dedicated management teams and employee complement”.

Holden is a member of the Altech and Bytes executive committees and a member of the Altron IT governance committee. Upon his appointment, he will become a member of the Altron executive committee, Altron said.

In a separate development, Altron has announced that Powertech has reached an agreement to sell its Powertech System Integrators (PTSI) business to Capitalworks Private Equity in a deal worth R140m excluding VAT. The deal will exclude the businesses of Powertech QuadPro SA and Technology Integrated Solutions.

Altron CEO Robbie Venter said PTSI was no longer considered to be a core asset for the group. The proceeds of the sale will be used to reduce group debt.

“The disposal of PTSI is in line with Altron’s new strategy to focus the group’s competitive advantage in the IT and telecommunications space and limit our exposure to the manufacturing sector,” said Venter. — (c) 2015 NewsCentral Media