PME Africa winds itself up, shares rocket

Investment firm PME Africa Infrastructure is winding itself up following five years of disappointing performance.The group, which invested in telecommunications in Tanzania and Uganda, found competition in the market too hot to handle and so has now exited the business.The remaining assets are 12 locomotives in South Africa which are mainly leased to the resources industry. It also owns some commercial premises in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.The idea is to buy back 30% of the outstanding shares using spare cash of around $13m. That makes each share worth around $0.4, the same as the net asset value per share at the end of June.The next phase will be to flog the locomotives and buy shareholders' remaining stocks with the proceeds.PME has decided to manage the winding up process itself instead of using a third party manager, as a result of which the Chairman, David von Simson, and two directors, Lawrence Kearns and Paul Macdonald, will see their salaries increased from £30-35,000 to £75,000.The stock rose 190% to 0.31p by 10:59. Since 2007 the stock has fallen in value by 71%.BS