Kingdom/Meikles battle over

Meikles this week told unhappy shareholders that the de-merger would soon be finalised and their shares in Kingdom returned. The diversified firm said the approval had been completed on Febraury 13, 2011, in Harare. Meikles told shareholders that after this they would receive either their Meikles shares or the KFHL ones as requested.

Kingdom and Meikles divorced last year due to major differences between tycoon, Nigel Chanakira and John Moxon over an investment in a hotel in South Africa. The tiff led to a nasty divorce after which Moxon fled Zimbabwe, and then decided to break the merger and go-it alone.

Kingdom was de-listed from the ZSE last year and has not been trading officially on the bourse. It has had to undergo various management changes at its Head Office since most senior managers quit and followed tycoon, Farai Rwodzi’s camp at Meikles.

Lynn Mukonoweshuro is now the Kingdom Chief Executive (CEO) with Edgar Nyamupingidza taking her former position as Group Chief Operating Officer (COO).

The Meikles share price has been struggling on the market due to the negative publicity resulting from the Chanakira/Moxon stand off.

While Meikles is capitalised at an impressive US$122 367 664, its share price has been struggling. The share price currently stands at 55 cents on the bourse having moved two sents up, from 53 cents, last week.

Kingdom last year borrowed a staggering US$34 million from Meikles to recapitalise its Kingdom Bank Limited (KBL). It, however, later failed to repay the cash when time was up, resulting in some threats from Moxon to take it over.

An angry President Robert Mugabe then got into the fight and told Moxon that his government would take over Meikles using the country’s controversial indigenisation regulations.

It could not be independently established whether the flamboyant Kingdom Group is still chasing its original idea to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), becoming the first Zimbabwean company to do so.