C O M PA N Y F O C U S
Chief investment officer Nicola Gubb, chief executive Faith Khanyile, Robin Moore, investment executive Lizanne Prince and investment executive Melissa Naidoo from WDBIH
Faith Khanyile and Robin Moore at the WDBIH offices in Johannesburg
empower themselves. Formed in 1996, the WDBIH was established to support the programmes of the WDB Trust. The company seeks to be a strategic and transformational investor in its investee companies, thereby creating a sustainable foundation to serve the vision of the trust. It is mandated to bring about economic upliftment and social advancement of poor rural women in the country. The company has, over the past 22 years, built up a portfolio of assets in the listed and unlisted space with a gross value of approximately R6 billion for the year-ended March 2017. This portfolio predominantly comprises assets within a number of sectors. Some of WDBIH’s key strategic investments include the FirstRand Group, Discovery, Assupol Life, Tsebo Solutions Group, Bidvest, Bidcorp and Ascendis Health. As a long term strategic partner, the company advocates for women empowerment and advancements in its investments. It has repatriated in excess of R200 million throughout its existence. This has been through the WDB Trust to fund development programmes. The trust has three programmes, which reached
more than 200 000 rural beneficiaries and uplifted thousands of households living in conditions of extreme poverty.
RECIPE FOR SUCCESS The initial RPC Group acquisition of Astrapak has allowed it access to world class quality, R&D expertise, knowledge and technology. RPC Astrapak is now a subsidiary of one of the biggest global plastic packaging conglomerates, the RPC Group. Headquartered in the UK, this parent company is one of Europe’s largest suppliers of plastic packaging with operations in 34 countries. Its annual revenue is in excess of UK£3 billion. The South African entity RPC Astrapak stands proud in the industry as one of the leading local suppliers of plastic packaging products. The company has pioneered numerous unique products influenced by leading edge technology. These have won awards and recognition, both locally and internationally. As part of its long-term strategy for doing business in South Africa, RPC fully appreciates the importance of having a local empowered partner in Astrapak. This is another important building block in achieving that strategic plan. RPC Astrapak is proud to embrace WDBIH as its new local partner in South Africa in this competitive industry. The benefits of the deal are mutual. Sharing two broad networks built over the years by both companies will lead
“The alliance of these two businesses paves a pioneering path not only in unison but also within the plastic packaging industry”
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Packaging Review | July 2018
to a valuable partnership between RPC Astrapak and WDBIH. This transaction will position RPC Astrapak as the first internationally owned and empowered plastics manufacturer based in South Africa. The company is also in the process of finalising a B-BBEE compliant employee ownership scheme, which will take up a 5.01 per cent interest for the benefit of qualifying employees. ‘We are extremely excited at the new opportunities, which lie on the horizon because of this historic deal. We look forward to making a difference in the lives of everyone involved, specifically women who have been neglected in the mainstream industry and manufacturing. We believe that we have created something unique for our customers. This is direct access to international products and technology while enabling procurement from an empowered supplier in terms of B-BBEE legislation,’ Moore explains. Faith Khanyile, WDBIH’s chief executive says the company is excited about the new venture. ‘This is especially the case given the positive growth prospects of the business and the sector globally. We pride ourselves in being game changers in sectors such as this one where the participation of women at the various levels (shareholding and management) is still very low. We look forward to fulfilling our mandate of gender transformation through our board participation and working with Astrapak in achieving its overall transformation strategy,’ she comments. This new journey begins in South Africa’s plastic packaging industry. RPC Astrapak has maintained a Level 4 B-BBEE rating for the past two years. With this deal and other aligned initiatives, it expects to retain this rating. •
RPC Astrapak – www.rpc-astrapak.com WDB Investment Holdings – www.wdbinvestments.co.za