African Rainbow Minerals has, on a private placement basis, acquired a 15% stake in Surge Copper Corp. The 39,608,708 shares in the TSX Venture Exchange-listed company will be acquired at an 18% premium to the 20-day VWAP for a purchase consideration of C$3,76 million representing C$0.095 per share. Surge owns the Ootsa Property and Berg Project in British Columbia which have significant deposits of metals used as input in electrification and the low-carbon economy.
The required SARB approval has been granted for Exxaro Resources to pay shareholders a special dividend of R5.72 cents per share. The number of ordinary shares in issue as at the declaration date was 349,305,092. Payment date is scheduled for 13 May 2024.
A number of companies announced the repurchase of shares.
British American Tobacco has commenced its programme to buyback ordinary shares using the £1,57 billion net proceeds from its sale of ITC shares. The company will buy back £1,60 billion of its ordinary shares – £700 million in 2024 and the remaining £900 million in 2025. This week the company repurchased a further 880,000 shares at an average price of £24.02 per share for an aggregate £2,11 million.
In terms of its US$5 million general share repurchase programme announced in March 2024, Tharisa plc has repurchased 427 ordinary shares at an average price of R13.77 per share for an aggregate repurchase value of R5,881.00.
Prosus and Naspers continued with their open-ended share repurchase programmes. During the period 25 to 28 March 2024, a further 3,042,342 Prosus shares were repurchased for an aggregate €86,98 million and a further 235 734 Naspers shares for a total consideration of R763,6 million.
Telemasters issued a cautionary notice this week. The Company will be disposing of 30% of the shares of its major subsidiary, Catalytic Connections, to the Sebenza Education and Empowerment Trust.
DealMakers is SA’s M&A publication.
www.dealmakerssouthafrica.com
