Shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a major shake-up at technology group Altron, ending decades of absolute control by the Venter family and ushering in a new strategic shareholder in the form of Value Capital Partners (VCP).

The approval from shareholders comes in the same week that Robbie Venter, son of Altron founder Bill Venter, announced he would step down as CEO by mid-year to make way for outgoing MTN South Africa CEO Mteto Nyati.

The restructuring approved at Thursday’s meeting of shareholders sees the collapse of Altron’s historical dual-share capital structure and the removal of the Venters’ absolute voting control over the company. However, under the new structure, the family will still hold a special share which allows it to exercise 25% (plus one vote) at any shareholder meeting as long as they continue to hold at least 10% of the total equity.

Shareholders voted in favour of all resolutions at Thursday’s meeting, including the appointment of VCP founders Antony Ball and Sam Sithole — formerly CEO and chief financial officer of Brait, respectively — to the board as nonexecutive directors. VCP is acquiring a 15% stake in Altron for R400m.

On Tuesday, Altron announced it had appointed MTN’s Nyati as its new group CEO. Nyati, formerly MD of Microsoft’s South African subsidiary, is set to take over as Altron CEO from Robbie Venter by “no later than” 1 July, after which Venter will step down and become a nonexecutive director.

MTN moved quickly to appoint a new CEO of its South African operation, naming Godfrey Motsa, vice-president of its South and East Africa region, to the position, effective from 13 March. — (c) 2017 NewsCentral Media