Shares in South Africa’s Basil Read Holdings jumped over 6% after the construction group said it would sell its energy unit and was in talks to shut down an engineering division under plans to offload non-core assets.
Basil Read said in a statement it would sell its energy unit after receiving non-binding indicative offers of between R70-million and R80-million in November.
The company said it had selected a preferred bidder for Basil Read Energy and was still in negotiations for the sale.
The firm also said it had also decided to shut down its Basil Read Matomo unit, a division that sets up processing plants for junior mining companies. Matomo was previously part of Basil Read’s engineering unit TWP group, which it sold for $105-million in 2012 to pay debts and expand its core business.
