Nkunzi Investment Holdings, a black economic empowerment firm in Durban, South Africa, acquired a 52.5-percent stake in Knysna Equipment Hire & Sales, a scaffolding and small- to medium-sized construction equipment company.

Nkunzi invested about 25 million Rand in the company (about U.S. $3.4 million). Nkunzi director Carl Malcomess said the company would use the invested funds to expand to a national level from its base in the Western Cape region.

Nkunzi was founded in 2005 with a plan to invest 500 million Rand over three years. It has bought stakes in CIM, a chemical company, cement-maker NPC and a hospital. Malcomess said the company was negotiating with two other construction-related firms.