Star 2021-09-22

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za BATTLE LINES are drawn taut between the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and employer organisations after the union resolved to embark on a strike in a fortnight to press for demands in the metals and engineering sector for an 8 percent increase across the board for the first year, and a Consumer Price Index (CPI) + 2 percent improvement factor for the second and third years. Numsa’s national executive committee is meeting on Sunday to discuss the deadlock with all employer associations in engineering, namely the National Employers Association of South Africa, the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (Seifsa), the SA Engineers and Founders Association and the chief executive of the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council. This…

Competition Tribunal approves sale of BKSA franchise to EPC fund Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za GRAND Parade Investments’ (GPI) sale of its Burger King South Africa (BKSA) franchise to the ECP Africa private equity fund has finally been approved by the Competition Tribunal after the companies were forced to add to the empowerment credentials of the deal. The Competition Commission made history on June 1 by prohibiting the sale of the Burger King franchise and its main supplier, Grand Food Meat Plant, on public interest grounds. The decision was on the basis that the sale would reduce the proportion of black ownership from 68 percent to 0 percent. The companies went to the drawing board and re-submitted the application to the competition authorities. GPI said yesterday that the Competition Tribunal…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za PARTIALLY State-owned telecommunications company Telkom surged nearly 13 percent on the JSE yesterday as it announced plans to list its masts and towers business as a separate entity. Telkom expects to make a final decision on the listing of the Gyro Masts & Towers business by the end of March next year. “Management believes that a separate listing of Swiftnet will affirm the valuation of the Masts & Towers business and its contribution to the overall valuation of the Telkom business, thereby unlocking further value for Telkom,” said Telkom in a statement. Gyro comprises masts and towers, property investment and property services business, and manages Telkom’s property portfolio, including 6 225 towers. In the year ended March 2021, masts and towers revenue increased by 6.6…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za REDEFINE Properties has approved a R200 million investment to expand its solar PV programme in the 2022 financial year to exceed the targets set in its first sustainability-linked bond issue, the group said in a presentation on its ESG (environment, social, governance) initiatives yesterday. ESG is becoming an increasingly more important factor in the management of listed groups as asset owners and key institutional investors have increasingly been advocating a greater emphasis on sustainability. Redefine, which has a diversified South Africa property portfolio worth R75.3 billion, issued a R1bn sustain- ability-linked bond in its 2021 financial year, the largest issued by an Reit in Africa, and the group said yesterday the intention was to further access sustainable finance markets beyond this issuance. On the renewable…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za EXXARO Resources is becoming greener. The group told investors during its Capital Markets Day this week it was diversifying its portfolio to consist of renewable energy and minerals, with a focus on wind and solar power, bauxite, copper and manganese in response to climate change. Exxaro said at the core of its strategy was managing the embedded risk of carbon by diversifying earnings away from carbon-based commodities while also reducing the company’s carbon footprint. Financial director Riaan Koppeschaar said Exxaro had a strong balance sheet and cash generative coal operations at the core of its business and the group was among the world’s most efficient and low-cost coal producers. “However, we have a long-term vision and need to adapt to the dynamics of a low carbon future.…

ASCENDIS Health (Ascendis) is under the water and the Ascendis shareholders have to decide whether they support the group recapitalisation or not. Shareholders, big or small, lost their boots by investing in Ascendis in the group’s heydays as Ascendis’s market capitalisation shrunk to roughly R255 million from more than R11 billion at the end of 2016. After listing in 2013 Ascendis grew by acquiring new businesses, but by such an extent that goodwill and intangibles made up about 90 percent of the group’s non-current assets. Until June 2016 most of the acquisitions were financed by debt and Mr Market bought into the so-called success story which saw the average price-to-book ratio or market capitalisation (number of issued shares times share price) relative to ordinary shareholders’ interest jump…