• Tanganda shareholders approved a US$8 million renounceable rights offer aimed at easing working capital constraints
• Innscor Africa subsidiary Rutanhi Beverages will underwrite the offer, ensuring funding certainty while positioning the conglomerate for a potentially larger equity stake
• The transaction could reshape Tanganda’s ownership structure, as a post-offer stake of 35% or more would allow Rutanhi to initiate a compulsory buyout of minority shareholders

Harare - Tanganda Tea Company Limited has secured shareholder approval to raise US$8 million through a renounceable rights offer, a capital injection expected to stabilise the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed  diversified tea enterprise’s liquidity position while simultaneously opening the door to a potential shift in its ownership structure.

The move, endorsed solidly at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held in Harare yesterday, represents one of the most consequential corporate actions for the tea producer in recent years as it seeks to address working capital constraints and advance long-delayed recapitalisation initiatives.

A renounceable rights offer allows existing shareholders to subscribe for additional shares in proportion to their current holdings or alternatively sell those rights to other investors.

The structure is widely regarded as a shareholder-friendly capital raising mechanism, enabling companies to secure fresh funding while mitigating dilution risks and preserving ownership optionality for current investors.

Under the approved terms, the rights offer will open on February 24, 2026 and close on March 17, 2026. Tanganda will issue 263,821,324 new ordinary shares at a subscription price of US$0.0303 per share on the basis of one new share for every 0.9896 shares held as at the February 23, 2026 record date.

The capital raise comes at a time when Tanganda is navigating a complex operating environment characterised by constrained liquidity, cost pressures and structural shifts within Zimbabwe’s consumer and export markets.

While the group has in the first quarter of 2026 reported improving tea volumes and narrowing losses, persistent working capital limitations have curtailed its ability to fully exploit production recovery and market opportunities.

The company  has consistently highlighted recapitalisation as a strategic priority, with the US$8 million raise expected to support input procurement, strengthen inventory cycles and enhance operational flexibility across its estates and manufacturing operations.

In Zimbabwe’s agricultural value chains, where production cycles are long and foreign currency requirements remain elevated, working capital adequacy often determines competitiveness and export readiness.

Apart from liquidity relief, the transaction carries broader strategic implications linked to its underwriting structure.

Should the rights offer fail to achieve full subscription, Rutanhi Beverages  a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Innscor Africa Limited  will be required to take up any shortfall.

This arrangement introduces the possibility of a material shift in Tanganda’s shareholding profile. If Rutanhi’s resulting stake reaches or exceeds 35% of issued shares, the threshold would allow it to initiate a compulsory buyout of minority shareholders under prevailing corporate regulations, potentially paving the way for Innscor to assume effective control of the tea producer.

Innscor’s involvement is therefore both a backstop to ensure capital certainty and a strategic positioning move that could integrate Tanganda more closely within the conglomerate’s expansive food and beverage ecosystem.

Such consolidation dynamics are not uncommon in Zimbabwe’s corporate landscape, where capital-intensive agricultural businesses frequently gravitate toward larger diversified groups capable of providing funding, distribution networks and operational synergies.

Historically, Tanganda has occupied a central role within Zimbabwe’s tea and coffee value chains, operating estates in the Eastern Highlands and supplying both export and domestic markets.

However, like many plantation-based agribusinesses, the company has faced cyclical headwinds including currency volatility, input cost escalation, infrastructure constraints and climate variability.

The approved rights offer therefore represents more than a routine balance sheet exercise. It signals a pivotal inflection point in Tanganda’s corporate trajectory  one combining immediate liquidity support with the prospect of strategic shareholder realignment that could redefine the company’s growth path.

The capital raise underscores a broader theme emerging across Zimbabwe’s listed agribusiness sector: recapitalisation is increasingly intertwined with consolidation, with access to patient capital becoming a decisive factor shaping the future structure of key value chain players.

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