Star 2021-12-23

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za SANLAM’S share price rose by 1.03 percent to R57.96 a share yesterday after it announced talks with German insurer Allianz SE about a deal that could potentially see the local assurance and financial services group exiting its African businesses. Sanlam said it was exploring “various strategic alternatives” with Allianz, Europe’s leading insurer, in relation to their respective African business units. Allianz is a leading global corporate insurance carrier providing risk consultancy, property-casualty insurance solutions and alternative risk transfer for a wide spectrum of commercial, corporate and speciality risks across 10 dedicated lines of business. It has a small operation in Africa, including in countries such as Nigeria and Senegal. Although Sanlam did not go into details, the deal will exclude Sanlam’s home operations in South Africa.…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za ANGLO American plc yesterday re- ported a drop in rough diamond sales from De Beers ahead of the Christmas break for southern African polishing factories. De Beers is the world’s biggest diamond producer by volume and is 85 percent owned by globally diversified mining house, Anglo. De Beers expects sales value of rough diamonds for the tenth sales cycle of 2021 sold between December 6 to December 21, 2021, to dip to $332 million (about R5.25 billion) down from $438m in the ninth sales cycle of 2021 and $452m recorded in the tenth sales cycle a year ago. De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver said: “Rough diamond demand and midstream sentiment continued to be positive in the final sales cycle of 2021, although as anticipated we…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za FOOD PRICES are set to spike following developments in the year including spiralling fuel costs, the looting and mayhem in July, Eskom blackouts, emergence of the Omicron virus as well as substantially higher insurance costs. In a notice yesterday, food producer Eskort said South Africa is facing its highest petrol price surge in history with a litre costing more than R20, which is directly impacting the price of food. The Basic Fuel Price reflects the costs of purchasing petroleum pro-ducts from international markets, and the costs related to shipping these products to South Africa. “This cost is largely influenced by the international price of crude oil, a weak rand-dollar exchange rate and high local taxes. “But while the spread of globalisation means economic tremors in one part…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za MAS, THROUGH its subsidiaries, is selling its hotel property and adjacent public square in Edinburgh, Scotland, which is likely to result in proceeds of about €27 million (R482m), the company said yesterday. The purchaser is Pandox Thistle, a special purpose vehicle held by Pandox AB, a leading owner of hotel properties in Northern Europe, with a focus on sizeable hotels in leisure and corporate destinations. MAS, which is some 6.47 percent held by Attacq and 7.9 percent by the Government Employees Pension Fund, has a strategy of disposing of Western European property and redeploying capital to investments in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), which it believes is now more attractive. The transaction is a result of this strategy. In a pre-close statement prior to…

ALEX TEDDER THERE are clear risks to global equities next year, especially since valuations are relatively extended, particularly in the US, and pricing power will be key from an investment perspective. Supply chain disruption should di- minish in most industries in 2022 The significant disruption to supply chains in 2021, largely linked to Covid-19-related capacity shutdowns and transportation bottlenecks, is likely to diminish as we move into 2022. Supply chain backlogs historically adjust rapidly after periods of stress, as the market responds to higher demand and re-builds inventory. We see no reason to assume this won’t be the case in 2022, and indeed freight shipping rates have started to fall. Global shipping indices signal easing supply pressures However, energy prices are likely to remain elevated. The economic recovery…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za THE SPAR GROUP has set the basic salary of new chief executive Brett Botten at R7.5 million compared with the R8.6m received by predecessor Graham O’Connor, who retired in March this year, according to the group’s integrated 2021 annual report published yesterday. O’Connor moved on to become the board’s non-executive chairperson, following the retirement of Mike Hankinson, who has chaired Spar South Africa since 2004. The group said in determining Botten’s salary package, the remuneration committee considered O’Connor’s salary, the market trends and Botten’s experience. Before taking the reins as chief executive in March 2021, Botten was managing director of the Spar South Rand division from 2010. He joined the company in 1994. Botten, who is a member of the Spar Guild of Southern Africa,…