Bill Venter's Allied Electronic Corp (Altron) has made a surprise appearance in the 2009 Top Empowerment Companies (TEC) survey. Altron takes first position in a group of companies categorised as general industrials. The total score of 65,35% places Altron ahead of black economic empowerment (BEE) giants such as Sekunjalo, Bell Equipment, Nampak, Eqstra and Barloworld.
Altron is an investment holding company with interest in three main operations. These are listed Altech and two operations delisted over the past few years, Bytes Technologies and Powertech.
Altron's TEC rank is a surprise as it comes shortly after the group and its subsidiary Altech were placed on a bad BEE watch list by the Public Investment Corp (PIC). PIC CEO Brian Molefe attacked the Venter empire for moving slowly on the BEE front. The PIC went to the extent of blocking Altron's R3,4bn offer to buy out Altech's minority shareholders in 2007. It owns about 10% of Altech's shares. Molefe cited lack of transformation and poor corporate governance as the reasons for blocking the deal.
At Altech's annual general meeting in July last year he followed up his concerns. He told the FM: "It seems they've made little progress on the matter since then." Shareholder activist Theo Botha added salt to the wound when he listed the Venter empire in his watch list of firms that are resisting BEE.
So what has since changed? Nothing much besides roping in high-profile black individuals onto the board as independent nonexecutive directors. These were businesswoman Dawn Mokhobo and Barbara Masekele, former SA ambassador to France and the US. These latest appointments were clearly designed to kill two birds with one stone. The black women factor addresses transformation and also comes with a sense of independent nonexecutive directors. However, this may not be enough to keep the BEE wolves at bay.
Altron spin doctors have been working around the clock. The group has managed to attract editorial coverage because of its long-term BEE vision. Early last year, it launched, amid fanfare, what it called Vision 2010. This has since been renamed Vision 2012.
Altron's subsidiaries have concluded a string of small BEE deals. The group says these initiatives are in line with its policy, which allows value to be added at operating level.
