Labat’s sale of its cannabis assets has become a game of musical chairs.
With four days to go before the listed company’s AGM on 2 December, Labat issued a statement on SENS on 27 November 2025, saying the 14 November sale agreement with Brian van Rooyen’s All Trading Propriety had fallen through and a new deal had been done with 64P Investments on revised terms.
According to Labat’s statement on SENS, 64P Investments will pay R10 million in cash for the Labat’s cannabis interests, which have been valued at R5,2 million, and well below the R15 m – R18 m valuation that Labat says these assets are worth.
64P had originally been in line to buy Labat’s cannabis assets, but in mid-November, the group announced a surprise switch of buyers, which saw All Trading come into line to buy the assets for R23 million in a ‘sweetheart deal’ in which the purchase price would be offset against van Rooyen’s loan account in Labat.
Labat says that All Trading withdrew its offer after a ‘review’ process and that Labat had then accepted a revised offer from 64P, who’s beneficial owner is metering systems businessman Hymie Pedro.
Labat says there are no ‘related parties’ linked to 64P and therefore the disposal of cannabis assets would not have to have shareholder approval – in the case of All Trading, because van Rooyen was a director of Labat, he would be considered a ‘related party’ and therefore shareholder approval would have been required at the 2 December AGM.
However, questions remain as to how ‘unrelated’ 64P actually is. Cannabiz Africa has reported that van Rooyen and Pedro were sole shareholders of a company Friedshelf Investments 477 (Pty) Ltd in 2004 but it’s unclear what became of their business relationship, and that is not say they have any links now.
Nonetheless one market commentator, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Cannabiz Africa: “Wait until the dust settles on this transaction, whichever way it goes, because I’ll bet that van Rooyen will surface in the new year as part of the 64P team. He knows the assets better than anyone else and 64P is going to have to turn those around quickly, as there are a lot of regulatory questions around Cannafrica and Sweetwaters that need to be answered. Whatever Labat is saying, you can be sure the guiding hand of Brian is in there somewhere .”
Labat says: “The purchaser, 64P Investments, is wholly owned by 64P Family Trust with the beneficial owner being Mr Hymie Pedro who is not a related party, nor are any of the trustees of the trust, and therefore the transaction qualifies as a Category 2 transaction in terms of Section 9 of the JSE listings requirements. Accordingly, no shareholder approval is required.”
In terms of the deal, Labat is selling the following assets to 64P, broadly described as the ‘heathcare’ segment:
• Sweetwaters (Cultivation and Extraction) – cannabis cultivation facility located in Kenton-on- Sea, Eastern Cape
• Biodata (Research and Development) – responsible for Phase 1 & 2 observational medical cannabis studies
• ACE (Genetics) – propagation, genetics development and research relating to cannabis strains.
• THC (Consulting) – cannabis and hemp strategy consulting
• Echo Life (Pty)Ltd – CBD Products Brand (Editor’s note – Echo Life is a Miami-based cannabis lifestyle brand)
• Labat Chem (Dormant) – dormant entity holding an active bank account.
The statement says “the disposal is aligned with Labat’s full exit from cannabis-related activities, reduces operational complexity, strengthens the balance sheet, and enables the business to redeploy capital into its strategic focus areas of ICT, logistics, and digital platform development.”
It says the R10 million represented ‘fair value to shareholders’, and the money will “be applied towards strengthening the Company’s balance sheet, reducing interest-bearing obligations and creditor exposures, and supporting working capital requirements to fund the group’s strategic transition.”
Labat’s cannabis interests have been on the market for almost a year and the company has made no secret of the fact that it cannot wait to get out of cannabis.
“The regulatory and operational risks associated with medicinal cannabis and retail have proven challenging, and the newly appointed board members do not wish to pursue cannabis investments” says Labat.
“Accordingly, Labat Healthcare has been deemed non-core and held for sale during FY2025. Labat is pivoting towards technology and ICT, and the disposal supports this strategy by divesting of non-core assets. Recent acquisitions such as Classic International and Ahnamu provide a solid foothold in IT hardware and software distribution across Africa.”
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