Cape Times 2021-05-13

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za TRANSACTION Capital was in talks to acquire a controlling stake in used- vehicle dealer WeBuyCars, it said yesterday as it reported its interim results, which saw it resume paying dividends. The taxi financier was in negotiations to hike its shareholding in WeBuyCars from the current 49.9 percent to 74.9 percent. Transaction Capital chief executive David Hurwitz said yesterday that consumers were increasingly opting for used vehicles, which was driving growth in this sector as disposable income comes under strain and new vehicle prices continue to rise. Hurwitz said the growth prospects of the WeBuyCars business would accelerate and support a sustainably higher growth trajectory should the transaction be concluded successfully. WeBuyCars is currently owned 60 percent by the family trusts of founders Faan and Dirk van…

Sizwe Dlamini sizwe.dlamini@inl.co.za DEPUTY Finance Minister David Masondo said yesterday that the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) should be allowed to do what it was mandated to do by its investors and stakeholders, and that no other entity could tell the asset manager how to act. Masondo said this while making his submissions to the meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance (Scof) with the PIC, the Sekunjalo Group, Matome Maponya Investments and the National Treasury on the Mpati Commission of Inquiry Report yesterday. Masondo said there seemed to be huge discontent over the findings of the PIC Commission of Inquiry report by Justice Lex Mpati, as well as serious issues and disputes over transactions between the PIC and parties involved. He strongly recommended that those entities that were unhappy with…

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za ASCENDIS Health yesterday reached an agreement with its lenders for the restructuring and recapitalisation agreement with its creditors Blantyre Capital and L1 Health for the settlement of its outstanding debt of €447 million (R7.61 billion). However, the group said the proposed transaction required 75 percent of shareholder approval, adding that if it did not receive the required shareholder support, the senior lenders would be able to enforce their rights and Ascendis Health would be placed in business rescue. The agreement comes after Blantyre Capital and L1 Health increased their exposure to the company’s debt to more than 75 percent of the aggregate exposure of the company’s consortium of external lenders in February. The South African-based global health and care company was plunged into huge…

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za JSE-listed global internet group Naspers yesterday announced a share swop deal with Dutch-listed Prosus in another step in the long journey of narrowing the discount that they trade at relative to the value of their shareholding in Chinese giant Tencent. Prosus is set to acquire 45.4 percent of Naspers N shares in exchange for newly issued Prosus N shares in an attempt to close the gap between the underlying value of its assets and its market value. Prosus said it would hold a 49.5 percent interest in Naspers on completion of the transaction, which was expected to be implemented in the third quarter of this year. The transaction would result in the economic interest of the Prosus free float to more than double, from around 27 percent…

Francois Baird NOW THAT the coronavirus pandemic has brought public health to the top of the agenda, it is time for the government to revisit its promises to establish a food safety agency. After the deadly listeriosis outbreak in 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the process to establish a food safety agency was under way. It would include a regulatory framework to ensure the highest levels of health and safety. Unfortunately, nothing has happened. There is no agency, no regulations setting out its powers, or how this would result in the promised “appropriate enforcement” by the government. As the coronavirus and listeria outbreaks showed, disease can strike suddenly and with deadly force. Countries must prepare for the unexpected and take steps to protect themselves. In the case of food…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE UN HAS forecast that South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) will rebound less than 3 percent in 2021 due to a number of downside risks clouding Africa’s outlook. In its World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2021 yesterday, the UN said South Africa’s GDP was projected to expand by 2.8 per cent in 2021. This is the lowest GDP forecast for South Africa this year after an upwards growth outlook of 3.8 percent by the SA Reserve Bank, 3.3 percent by the National Treasury, and 3 percent by the World Bank. The UN report also warned that medium-term prospects were constrained by lack of fiscal space, chronic high unemployment and lingering power shortages as Eskom fails to resolve the energy…