👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – A not-so-Flash deal

When Pepkor, the South African retailer behind PEP and Ackermans, announced its Flash-Shop2Shop merger in July, the pitch was growth: combine two large merchant networks, build a bigger fintech business, then list it separately. Three months later, the deal is attracting attention for a different reason.

What happened? Some Pepkor directors and investors believe shareholders should have been allowed to vote on the R21.3 billion ($1.3 billion) transaction. Pepkor will own 57.1% of the combined entity, FintechCo. Pieter Erasmus, Pepkor’s chief executive officer (CEO), will indirectly own 13.2%, worth roughly R2.8 billion ($170 million) at the deal valuation, according to the company’s filing.

Erasmus recused himself from discussions and decisions. Pepkor also obtained independent valuations and a voluntary fair opinion. JSE rules did not require a shareholder vote because the deal is classified as a Category 2 transaction—which must be publicly disclosed but does not require shareholder approval—while Erasmus’s interest falls below the threshold that would make it a related-party transaction. 

Explain like I’m new here: Erasmus’s link to Shop2Shop is not new. An associated company owned 31.2% of Shop2Shop before the merger, and Flash and Shop2Shop had already been doing business together since 2020. Pepkor disclosed those relationships in previous financial statements.

Between the lines: Pepkor did not need shareholder approval under JSE rules. But some investors still think a deal this important—especially one in which the CEO has a financial interest—should have gone before shareholders. FintechCo is central to Pepkor’s next phase, and its CEO stands to own a valuable stake in the private company being brought into the group. A shareholder vote, even a non-binding one, would have given investors a direct say on that conflict.

Zoom out: Pepkor is moving quickly beyond retail. Financial-services revenue jumped 41.6% in the first half of 2026, and the group plans to launch a bank in April 2027. As more of Pepkor’s growth comes from finance and payments—as it eyes banking—as well as other private deals, investors will care just as much about how those businesses are put together and how fast they grow.

Quickmart’s owners are selling half the supermarket chain to the public. But before those new shareholders come on board, the retailer has been cleaning up some old arrangements with the people who built and owned the business.

What happened? Quickmart terminated several consultancy and management contracts with founder- and director-linked businesses in July, months before its initial public offering (IPO). In 2025 alone, Quickmart paid KES 208.4 million ($1.6 million) in management fees to its parent companies, KES 268.7 million ($2.1 million) to Basic Land Investment, and KES 161 million ($1.2 million) to Resource Business Investments. 

Those three payments alone came to about KES 638 million ($4.9 million), roughly 43% of Quickmart’s KES 1.5 billion ($11.6 million) net profit that year. 

Explain like I’m new here: Founder-linked transactions are not automatically a problem. Private companies often lean on their owners for property, advice, or other services. The calculation changes once strangers are invited to buy shares. Investors want to know that money leaving the company is being spent on the best available terms, not simply routed to insiders.

Between the lines: Ending the contracts makes Quickmart easier to scrutinise as a public company, but it does not mean the entire KES 638 million ($4.9 million) suddenly becomes profit. The retailer may still need some of those services and could pay outside advisers or build the work in-house. The more important change is who gets to decide what those services cost.

Some links to the founders remain. Eighteen Quickmart stores are still leased from businesses connected to founders or directors, though the retailer said those leases are on normal commercial terms.

Zoom out: Governance matters more here because Quickmart itself is not raising money. Its owner, Sokoni Retail Kenya, is selling two billion existing shares for KES 15 billion ($116 million), and will collect the proceeds from the public offer in a much-needed listing for Kenya’s capital market. Quickmart has already opened the offer, with full trading expected by November 12.

Eskom has spent decades keeping South Africa’s lights on, mostly by burning coal. Now, it wants to help keep the country’s electric cars moving, too.

What happened? The state-owned electricity company has opened its first public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at the Gateway Theatre of Shopping in Umhlanga and The Pavilion Shopping Centre in Durban, South Africa. Eskom’s two new charging stations each have two fast direct-current (DC) charging ports capable of delivering up to 120 kilowatts (kW), plus one alternating-current (AC) port offering up to 22kW. 

Explain like I’m new here: Eskom may be best known for generating electricity, but charging electric cars can be a natural extension of that business, using its operating experience with electricity infrastructure to support the growth of electric transport. E.ON, one of Europe’s largest investor-owned electric utility service providers, operates a network of public and home electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across Europe and the UK. 

Eskom has been trying its hand at clean business for a while. In August 2024, the company, in partnership with GridCars, a South African charging-network operator, launched a pilot with 10 charging stations across five of its properties, but kept it closed to the general public. In September 2025, it introduced 20 electric vehicles (EVs) and said it wanted to transition its entire fleet to electric by 2035. It also announced plans to roll out 55 public charging stations over two years. Eskom also signed an agreement with BYD, the Chinese car-maker, to support electric mobility and expand public charging infrastructure in South Africa.

From generating power to selling a charge: Eskom is entering the EV charging business, giving it an advantage because it already runs South Africa’s electricity system. Charging operators make money by selling power to drivers, but they also pay for equipment, maintenance, grid connections and demand fees.

Some industry players have raised concerns that Eskom may have offered certain sites lower demand charges, which could let them price charging more cheaply than rivals. Eskom says its pilot pricing follows existing tariffs and regulations.

What does this mean for drivers? Eskom’s new DC chargers cost R5.88 ($0.045) per kilowatt-hour (kWh), compared with R7.35 ($0.057) at GridCars’ public stations, making Eskom’s rates 20% cheaper. For a driver buying 50 kWh of electricity, that means paying R294 ($2.27) at an Eskom station instead of R367.5 ($2.83) at GridCars, the country’s largest EV charging station operator, helping them save about R73.50 ($0.57) on a single charge. Eskom’s lower prices offer drivers a cheaper alternative to existing charging networks, although its ability to compete with established operators will depend on how widely it expands its public charging stations. 

South Africa recorded sales of over 16,000 new-energy vehicles in 2025, but expanding its public charging network remains important to making electric driving more practical, especially for drivers who cannot charge at home or travel frequently between cities.

The Dangote Refinery initial public offering (IPO), originally scheduled to close on October 13, has been extended by two weeks, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The extension gives retail investors more time to buy shares in the company, amid growing interest from investors in other African countries.

What happened? Dangote Refinery says it has received strong interest from eligible investors across Africa and other markets. The IPO, which opened on September 14, will now remain open until October 27.

Explain like I’m new here: Dangote is giving everyday investors a chance to own a piece of its refinery. Each share costs ₦525 ($0.40), and the company plans to sell 4.1 billion shares to raise ₦2.15 trillion ($1.6 billion). The extra two weeks will allow it to bring in investors from more African countries and complete the arrangements needed for them to buy shares across borders.

Many people want in: In Kenya, Renaissance Capital, a Kenyan investment bank, worked on a new vehicle that would allow Kenyan investors to participate in the IPO through Kenya’s stock exchange, for KES 49 ($0.38) per share. In Zimbabwe, asset manager Bard Santner Investors is facilitating local participation by securing the required approvals and moving clients’ money from Ecobank Zimbabwe to Ecobank Nigeria.

More time, more shares? Not necessarily. The extension gives more investors time to participate; it does not automatically increase the number of shares on offer. Dangote has regulatory approval to sell additional equity if demand warrants it, potentially raising to $2.1 billion, but the company has not said that the extension itself will trigger a larger offer. 

What does this mean? The extension gives Dangote more time to increase participation and benefit from the possible cross-border demand in its refinery. Dangote’s IPO has become a major test of how easily investors can buy shares across African borders. Kenya’s route and Zimbabwe’s bank-transfer arrangement show that investors are finding ways in, and Dangote wants a pan-African shareholder base.

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Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$83,958	+ 1.19%	+ 8.69%
Ether	$2,561	+ 2.40%	+ 2.40%
XRP	$1.40	– 0.67%	– 1.96%
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* Data as of 06.37 AM WAT, October 13, 2026.

Written by: Emmanuel Nwosu and Yemi Kareem

Edited by: Emmanuel Nwosu & Ganiu Oloruntade