Star 2021-05-31

Philippa Larkin philippa.larkin@inl.co.za THE PROTRACTED bidding war for acquisition of Adapt IT ratcheted up another notch on Friday after the Huge Group ramped up its bid to about R1.3 billion for the specialised software and digitally led business solutions company. The market welcomed the move. Huge Group’s shares closed 9.32 percent higher at R5.75 on Friday, while Adapt IT’s shares leapt 8.64 percent to R6.79. Huge revised its offer to 909 cents per Adapt IT share and a swop ratio of 1.37 Huge shares for each Adapt IT share, up from a swop ratio of 0.9 Huge shares per Adapt IT share. In January Huge Group tabled an unsolicited offer of 55c a share for the entire issued share capital of Adapt IT, valued at R795…

THE SOUTH African Reserve Bank (SARB) has warned in its Financial Stability Review (FSR) that there are still material risks to the country’s financial stability in spite of the improving economic outlook for 2021. The SARB said on Friday that the risks to financial stability related to the durability of the economic recovery. The bank’s FSR revealed that South Africa’s economic outlook was also highly uncertain and would depend on the pace of the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out. Despite the economy recovering from the depths of the 2020 recession, activity remained weak in some sectors hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic such as tourism. Also posing a risk to financial stability was the potential for global financial conditions to shift abruptly, as well as to the high and rising level of…

Philippa Larkin philippa.larkin@inl.co.za CASHBUILD on Friday warned shareholders that its bid to purchase Pepkor’s The Building Company (TBC) for R1 billion had been shot down by the Competition Commission because it would result in the creation of the single-largest retailer of building materials, hardware and related products in South Africa. Cashbuild on August 4 announced the proposed acquisition as it aimed to broaden its geographical footprint. “It should be noted that this is only a recommendation at this stage, and the Competition Tribunal must still hear arguments from all parties,” said Cashbuild. On Friday, the Competition Commission said the merger would result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition in the market for building materials, hardware and related products in South Africa. In its reasons for the decision,…

President calls different other vaccination suppliers after J&J delayed because of regulatory issues Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa said yesterday that the government was in discussions with other Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers in a bid to boost the country’s slow inoculation roll-out. This comes as the scheduled delivery of 31 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines has been delayed due to regulatory issues related to lack of adherence to proper standards at a manufacturing plant in the US. Ramaphosa said that some of these manufacturers were in the process of seeking the necessary approvals from South Africa’s health products authority. The president, however, emphasised that the government had secured enough vaccines to reach all adults in the country, which is around 40 million people. “We are waiting for these issues…

IT WAS A big week for corporate earnings and if it weren’t for the uncertainty around the Covid-19 third wave, share prices of some of these companies would almost certainly have been higher. It was evident from the results released last week, and from the shorter-term prospects in those figures, that an economic recovery of sorts has begun to take hold. This was not lost to many astute investors, who managed to push the share prices of some of the companies reporting last week to new highs a week before. One of these was Pepkor Holdings, the value clothing, footwear, homeware, furniture digital appliance and accessories group, which reported strong earnings growth, much reduced debt, and strong cash flow for the six months to March 31. The group said positive…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za NASPERS shareholders should be better compensated in the proposal by Amsterdam-based subsidiary Prosus to issue new shares as part of a capital raise, so that it could increase its shareholding in its parent, Old Mutual Investment Group portfolio manager Neelash Hansjee said on Friday. The complexity and reasons for the proposal, which Naspers management have said is aimed at reducing the discount at which Naspers trades, have generated much discussion and criticism among market analysts and commentators. This month, Prosus announced its intention to acquire 45.4 percent of the issued Naspers shares from Naspers shareholders by a voluntary share exchange offer of new Prosus shares for Naspers shares. For instance, according to a story in the Techcentral online site, Switzerland-based research and investment firm Alternative Investment…