MineRP finds new owners

MineRP, the South African domiciled provider of mining technical software solutions and consulting services, has announced a long-anticipated transaction that will see the company realize its strategy to position itself as the premier provider of integrated mining technical solutions to the global mining industry.

Further to the cautionary announcements published to the general public earlier this year, South African ICT firm Gijima’s shareholders were today advised that the company has entered into agreements with a consortium led by RMB Corvest (Pty) Ltd, Shalamuka Capital (Pty) Ltd, Hasso Plattner Ventures Africa (Pty) Ltd and a representative Manco from the MineRP business in terms of which the consortium will purchase the MineRP business from Gijima.

The conclusion of the transaction is subject to certain conditions precedent, which have been set out on the websites of both Gijima and MineRP (www.minerpsolutions.com and www.gijima.com)

Reason for the transaction

The MineRP Businesses have historically attained a position amongst the top mining technical systems providers world-wide. This market has seen significant growth over the past years, as opportunities for market consolidation were identified by large corporates, and companies were able to invest in various expansion initiatives.

In the recent past, it has become evident that MineRP requires similar levels of investment to achieve its various global growth objectives.  As the business of MineRP is essentially non-core to Gijima, the required investment was not sanctioned, and for this reason, Gijima has taken a view that in order to set the MineRP on its own growth trajectory, it should be sold to investors that would adequately invest in its strategy.

The Consortium

The parties to the consortium acquiring MineRP have been carefully selected and will individually and collectively contribute significantly to the future success of the business.  The consortium comprises the following partners:

RMB Corvest

RMB Corvest is a South African private equity company, and a member of the First Rand Group.  The company participates predominantly in management buy-outs and buy-ins, leveraged buy-outs and BEE transactions involving businesses with a value of between R50 million and R1 billion. (Roughly USD 6m – USD 150m)

RMB Corvest invests in established, well-managed, medium-sized businesses with a proven track record of solid performance.  Its mission is to be a guiding force and strategic partner in the financing of selective transactions, always seeking to yield maximum returns for each party involved.

Hasso Plattner Ventures Africa

Hasso Plattner Ventures Africa, based in Cape Town, South Africa, is the largest technology focused venture capital fund in Africa with most of its capital committed by SAP co-founder and Chairman Prof. Dr. Hasso Plattner.  Hasso Plattner Ventures Africa turns local technologies into global assets by investing in software, telecommunications, internet and clean energy companies in emerging markets with the potential to grow internationally.  As a partner in the MineRP consortium, Hasso Plattner Venture Africa’s expertise and global network will allow MineRP to broaden its offering and enter the global marketplace.

Shalamuka Capital

Shalamuka Capital is the private equity company for the Shalamuka Foundation. Shalamuka offers investment partners a key advantage through its status as a broad based BEE private equity company, which uses its own funds for investment rather than third party funds.

The funding received by the Shalamuka Foundation from Shalamuka Capital is used to facilitate the growth of the Penreach programme and ultimately improve the lives of the children and educators of South Africa. Penreach is an award-winning non-profit, in-service educational development-training programme that was developed to improve the teaching skills of qualified and unqualified educators, as well as their schools in and around the Mpumalanga region.

Through the efforts of Shalamuka Capital and its involvement in Penreach more than 2 000 teachers, 900 schools and in excess of 350 000 learners a year are reached and benefit from Penreach.

MineRP’s future strategy

In business since 1997, MineRP started life as an in-house service provider to the Anglo American Gold division, developing its mining technical software portfolio.  The company has since attained remarkable growth milestones, allowing it to be counted among the top providers of mining technical solutions in the world.

With its dual focus on both software engineering and professional mining consulting, it is also uncontested as the world’s biggest supplier of enterprise-level integrated mining solutions.  This has been achieved through a combination of the development of natively integrated expert solutions within the MineRP stable, as well as the establishment of the “MineRP Foundation Blocks”.  These foundation blocks are a set of innovative enterprise technologies that allow for the horizontal as well as vertical integration of not only systems provided by MineRP, but in fact also those of any other mining technical solution willing to share data in an open-standards based spatial format.

The company has seen significant growth in both local and international business, doubling its revenue twice over the past six years, and establishing offices in each significant mining continent.  With the new consortium in place, it’s stated objective of being the number one global provider of enterprise, integrated mining technical solutions and consulting is certain to be achieved soon.