South African trading, services and distribution firm Bidvest has access to $1 billion for acquisitions, its chief executive said on Monday.

“We’d be able to raise $1 billion should we need it, or about 14 billion rand ($1 billion) to 15 billion rand and that has been confirmed by a lot of the bankers,” said Lindsay Ralphs in a conference call to reporters.

“We have got ample headroom to accommodate expansion opportunities,” he added.

($1 = 12.9500 rand)

(Reporting by TJ Strydom; Editing by James Macharia)