Former Public Investment Corporation (PIC) CEO Dan Matjila has denied he forced two empowerment companies to merge so they could buy a stake in Total SA. The PIC ultimately funded the deal in 2015, notes a Business Day report on yesterday's sitting of the PIC inquiry. Businessmen Lawrence Mulaudzi, who testified at the inquiry in March, said his company, Kilimanjaro Capital (Kilicap), approached the PIC in May 2015 to fund the acquisition of a 25% BEE stake in Total worth R1.7bn. But despite signing an engagement letter with the PIC, Mulaudzi said Matjila told him he had to merge with Sipho Mseleku’s Sakhumnotho group if they were to get any funding from the PIC. Mulaudzi said they were forced to ‘form one consortium’, with each party holding 50% of the shares. ‘We realised that if we did not merge into one consortium, we would not obtain the required approval letter that had to be issued by Dr Matjila,’ Mulaudzi said. Mulaudzi’s testimony indicated Matjila had inserted Sakhumnotho into the transaction late in the bidding process, at a point where Mulaudzi thought his company had an exclusive undertaking from the PIC to fund the transaction. But yesterday, Matjila said he gave no explicit instruction to Mulaudzi to combine his bid with Mseleku. ‘I never mentioned it, but in my mind it was there,’ said Matjila, in relation to Mulaudzi’s allegation. Matjila, however, admitted he did have a preference for the two entities to combine. ‘The most important thing was that I was transparent to both of them. They both wanted a binding letter of expression. I was uncomfortable that a company with no history (Kilicap) was trying to get R1.7bn. Mseleku had history (with us). So a broader consortium was better for the PIC,’ said Matjila.