11 April 2018

MEDIA STATEMENT

Sagarmatha Technologies will not list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on 13 th April
2018

Cape Town - On 28 March 2018, Sagarmatha Technologies was given approval by the
Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) to list. The listing date of 13 April 2018 would have seen
the company become the first Unicorn to list on an African bourse.

On 10 April, the company received a notification from the JSE withdrawing the listing
approval. The reason cited by the JSE was non-compliance with Section 33 of the Company’s
Act, which requires the submission of financial statements to the Companies and Intellectual
Property Commission (CIPC).

On 11 April the company received written confirmation from CIPC indicating that Sagarmatha
Technologies was, indeed, compliant and had provided the required financial statements.

The JSE now cites a technical point, which has prevented Sagarmatha Technologies from listing
on 13th April 2018. The technicality suggests that Sagarmatha Technologies was non-compliant
on the date that the pre-listing statement (PLS) was approved i.e. 28th March 2018. The CIPC
has confirmed otherwise, stating that at no stage, was Sagarmatha Technologies not compliant.

Sagarmatha Technologies confirms that it received indicative commitments for this listing
exceeding R4bn, therefore comfortably meeting the minimum listing requirements of the JSE.

However, due to the JSE withdrawal of the listing notice, Sagarmatha Technologies is legally
bound not to accept these applications from its committed investors. Sagarmatha Technologies
was hopeful it could resolve this issue with the regulator and requested the extension of a new
listing date. However, the JSE has requested the company make provision for a fresh listing
application.

Consequently, Sagarmatha Technologies will not list on Friday 13th April 2018.

The Sagarmatha Technologies board is now considering options that include: offers to purchase
from international investors for its four largest businesses; and/or listing on the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE) and Hong Kong Exchange as primary; and/or a primary listing on the JSE and
a secondary listing or, and/or a dual listing.

This listing has been the most scrutinized in the history of South Africa, beginning with
unprecedented interest in how Multi-Sided-Platform technology companies are valued.

This was further fanned by a large-scale disinformation campaign driven mostly by competitor
media houses against Independent Media – a company that would have been under the
Sagarmatha Technologies umbrella.

It is apparent that there is a general lack of understanding around MSPs in South Africa. Aside
from the comments Sagarmatha Technologies was subjected to when it first announced its listing
intention, this lack of insight shows in how the JSE’s largest company, Naspers, trades at a
substantial discount as compared to the value of its investment of TenCent in China.

It is for this reason and the fact the company is considering a listing on the NYSE, that
Sagarmatha Technologies had the foresight to engage one of the world’s top valuation
companies, Redwood Valuation Partners, as well as the esteemed faculty of finance of the
University of District of Columbia, both technology experts and specifically familiar with
MSPs. Redwood Valuation Partners underwent a stringent process to be accredited by the
JSE. The valuation received from Redwood Valuation Partners pegged the share price between
R37-R41 per share – and a decision was made to list at a price of R39,62 per share.

Investing in cash negative companies - Sagarmatha Technologies is no different to companies

such as Uber, Amazon, Alibaba, SnapChat, FlipKart, Airbnb, DD Chang – all companies that
showed substantial losses but whose values were highly valued by the capital markets in which
they were listing. It is the very reason why Amazon is today worth $700bn even though its
eCommerce business is still only marginally profitable after 20 years and that the top eight MSPs
in the world, have a combined market cap of USD4 trillion.

Sagarmatha Technologies is still of the opinion that it is important for Africa to have its own MSP,
so that Africans are able to take control of their own technology and data and eCommerce
destiny. Regrettably, that next step forward was cut short today.

As with all pioneering moves, boldness is subject to a lot of analysis, and in this case, also vast
misunderstanding. This unfamiliarity sadly lent itself to a focus on Independent Media, rather
than on the greater picture Sagarmatha Technologies as a whole, represents.

It was the intention of the company to benefit more than three million workers in South Africa,
which would have come through the shareholding in Sagarmatha Technologies that included;
trade unions, civil society organisations, black entrepreneurs, black businesses, employees and
academic institutions. This would have made Sagarmatha Technologies the most representative
and largest black-owned listing on the JSE.

Additionally, more than 5 000 young IT professionals would have had the opportunity to be
trained in the area of data science, Artificial Intelligence, System Engineering and other MSP
technologies.

Sagarmatha Technologies, with its focus on Africa, still intends to give African investors and
African business people and consumers, an opportunity to participate in shaping the future
African economy. It is also a place for African graduates to hone their skills for the benefit of the
African continent.

Sagarmatha Technologies would like to extend its sincere thanks and gratitude to all its
stakeholders for their support – shareholders, management, the board of directors, employees,
legal advisors, TGR Attorneys; sponsor and transaction advisor, Vunani Capital, accounting firm
BDO; asset managers and financial services group, PSG Wealth as well as the JSE.

Issued by:
Sagarmatha Technologies