By Gift Dube
HARARE – Westprop Holdings a company owned by controversial fraudster Kenneth Raydon Sharpe and name dropper Tatiana Aleshina, failed to raise enough money at the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) after the company only raised less than 10% of the amount it was desperate seeking.
The controversial company raised only US$14 050 instead of US$10 million after selling 1 405 out of one million ordinary shares on Friday.
It raised a further $276 590 from 55 318 preference shares when it aimed to raise US$30 million. A further 600 000 preference shares were taken up by the underwriter.
The company raised a total of US$3 290 640 against a target of US$30 million.
Westprop Holdings published its initial public offer on 28 March this year intending to list on the Victoria Falls Exchange (VFEX), which is US-dollar denominated, on Friday, 28 April.
Westprop said it was going back to the VFEX to ask for an extension of the share offer.
The listing of Westprop on the VFEX was being challenged by a group of investors represented by prominent Harare Lawyers from Mutumbwa, Mugabe and Partners.
The investors said Westprop Holdings did not publish all the litigation cases against the company in its prospectus and should therefore not be allowed to list.
Westprop, through its lawyers, Scanlen and Holderness, dismissed the challenge saying it showed lack of basic understanding or knowledge of simple corporate and commercial law matters.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe, however, ruled that Westprop should have included the litigations cited by those opposing its listing so that investors could make an informed decision.
The commission said VFEX should ask Westprop to make a supplementary litigation report with all the necessary disclosures before listing.
