Exchange-Listed Companies
In a move to further expand its footprint in the private education space, ADvTECH has announced the acquisition of Ethiopian school group Flipper International School based in Addis Ababa. The acquisition will add five schools and an additional 3,000 students to the Group’s international portfolio. The US$7,5 million deal will be funded internally by ADvTECH.
Tiger Brands is to sell its baby wellbeing business, a non-core asset, for R605 million (plus inventories for a further R25 million) to an unnamed, unrelated third party. The purchaser, who is a leading SA manufacturer of home and personal care products servicing the FMCG market in a number of countries, who will also acquire a select list of non-core brands withing the Home and Personal Care business for a total consideration of R135 million. Again, inventories of approximately R25 million will be added to this price tag.
Sanlam and Ninety One have announced a long-term relationship (15 years) whereby Sanlam will appoint Ninety one as its primary active investment manager for single-managed local and global products. As part of the transaction, Ninety One will acquire the Sanlam Investment Management business (SIM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sanlam Investment Holdings in which the Sanlam Group holds an effective 65.6% interest. Ninety One will be appointed as the permanent investment manager to manage assets for Sanlam Investment UK and Sanlam will serve as an anchor investor of Ninety One’s international private and specialist credit strategies. Sanlam Group will receive c.12.3% equity stake in Ninety One through a combination of Ninety One Ltd and plc shares, the issue of which will require Ninety One shareholder approval.
Lesaka Technologies is to acquire the prepaid electricity submetering and payments business Recharger. The business enables landlords to collect payment for utilities usage from tenants in advance, eliminating the need to manage billing and collections. Recharger will sit within the Enterprise pillar of Lesaka’s Merchant Division and will act as an entry point into the local private utilities space and provide an alternative payment offering. Lesaka will pay R507 million for the business in two tranches which will be settled through a combination of R332 million in cash and R175 million in Lesaka shares. In addition, Lesaka will contribute R42 million to Recharger to repay a shareholder loan. The company expects the transaction to be concluded at an EV/EBITDA multiple of approximately 6.0 times.
Novus announced this week that its on-market acquisition of Mustek shares had resulted in it breaching (together with related parties) the 35% shareholding level requiring it to make a mandatory offer to Mustek shareholders in terms of the local takeover rules. This comes hot on the heels of its acquisition of Media24 assets announced in October. For those Mustek shareholders wishing to exit their investment in the ICT player, Novus has offered three options – cash of R13 per Mustek share, a combination of R7 cash plus one Novus share, or no cash and two Novus shares for those shareholders wanting to swap into Novus. The Novus share price closed at R7.85 prior to the announcement. Novus has received irrevocable undertakings from shareholders holding 20.29% of Mustek’s shares that they will reject the mandatory offer. The intention of Novus is not to delist Mustek and has offered a maximum of R335 million in relation to the mandatory offer.
Labat Africa will acquire a 75.55% interest in Classic International Trading from the current shareholder for a consideration of R16,28 million to be settled through the issue of 232,5 million Labat shares at an issue price of R0.07 per share. The deal represents an opportunity for Labat Technology to diversify and strengthen its portfolio which has faced challenges.
Barloworld has released a further cautionary, this time with details of a potential offer by a consortium of investors one of whom is the current Group CEO. While there is no firm intention at this stage, the board of directors has constituted an independent board to engage with the consortium and ensure that enhanced governance protocols are in place. Falcon Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zahid Group headquartered in Saudi Arabia is an effective 18.9% shareholder in Barloworld, forms part of the consortium of investors.
Globe Trade Centre has acquired a portfolio of residential assets in Germany from Peach Property Group and LFH Portfolio Acquico for c.€448 million.
Delta Property Fund has announced the disposal of two properties this week. It has disposed of the Beacon Hill building in the Buffalo Industrial area in King Williams Town to Chipcor Developers for a cash consideration of R13 million and will sell Thuto House in Bloemfontein to Nomnga Investments for R16 million.
Unlisted Companies
The family-owned wine estate Van Loveren has acquired the Survivor Wines brand with a range of 12 distinct wines. The estate intends to acquire the Overhex Wines cellar and facilities, strategically located close to Van Loveren’s bottling operations.
DealMakers is SA’s quarterly M&A publication.
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