SA's Premier Group Suspends UPD Listing

Premier Group, one of the largest food and industrial groups in South Africa, has requested the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to temporarily suspend the listing of its subsidiary Wholesale Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited (WPH). This follows severe financial losses by United Pharmaceutical Distributors (UPD), a company in which WPH has an interest of 51%, due to alleged fraud and mismanagement.

WPH merged its wholesale pharmaceutical interests with those of Medical Cash and Carry (Pty) Ltd in 1993 to form UPD. Norman Knight, who previously controlled MCC, was appointed executive chairman of UPD at the time.

Premier and WPH said in a statement to shareholders that ongoing investigations suggest that Mr Knight and certain of his associates have been involved in activities unacceptable to WPH. As moneys have been misappropriated, a formal complaints has been lodged with the Attorney General, alleging several charges of fraud and theft totalling approximately 40 million rand ($11.3 million), reports the Marketletter's local correspondent.