Star 2022-11-10

SOUTH Africa’s business environment ranking for private companies has improved largely due to structural reforms aimed at helping the economy recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. The EMEA Private Business Attractiveness Index 2022 ranks the relative attractiveness of private business environments across 33 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). PricewatehouseCoopers (PwC) yesterday released a report showing that South Africa was now ranking 25th out of these 33 countries when measured across 51 metrics within eight different categories. PwC Africa Private Leader Duncan Adriaans said yesterday that South Africa marked an improvement on its 2021 ranking of 32nd out of 35 territories, reflecting positively on the country’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. The plan pledged to make it easier for private businesses to operate in South Africa. “South…

ACTIVISTS and analysts have expressed growing concern about South Africa’s increasing loans to fund its Just Energy Transition Programme (JETP) following more than R10 billion in loans from European countries. France and Germany have signed loan agreements for the two European nations to each extend €300 million, or a combined least R10.7bn, in concessional financing to South Africa to support the country’s efforts to reduce its reliance on coal through a just transition to cleaner energy sources. The announcement was made yesterday amid the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference, or COP27, in Egypt. The loans are provided by the French and German public development banks, AFD and KfW, directly to the South African government via the National Treasury. They are part of investment plans to the International Partners…

IT’S BACK TO the drawing board for Gold Fields to size up assets for acquisitions for future growth after its failed bid for Yamana Gold. This follows Gold Fields’ announcement on Tuesday that it had terminated the agreement to acquire Yamana Gold, and expected to be paid a $300 million (R5.3 billion) break fee within two business days, under the terms of the arrangement agreement. Yesterday its shares leap to close on the JSE a whopping 21.06% stronger to R184.50 as shareholders in the mining firm, who were worried that the acquisition would dilute their shareholding, celebrated the collapsed deal. In a press call with journalists yesterday, Gold Fields chief executive Chris Griffith said its board was confident about its decision not to make an increased offer…

Royal Bafokeng Platinum’s shares gain 10.21% in the bidding war NORTHAM Platinum is back in the boxing ring with Impala Platinum (Implats) as it tables a formal offer to acquire all remaining shares that it doesn’t own already in Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) at R172.70 a share. RBPlat’s shares frolicked to a gain of 10.21% at R1 67 at the JSE close. This as Northam’s share price closed 6.06% lower at R178 on market unease of the deal. Northam said the offer price amounts to R172.70 and was equivalent to the R180.50 purchase price paid to Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH) in November 2021, adjusted for the dividends subsequently declared by RBPlat in March 2022 at R5.35 and August 2022 at R2.45. The offer was priced at an approximate 15% premium…

A PROPOSED paint deal between Kansai Paint, the manufacturer of Plascon, and Akzo Nobel (AkzoNobel), the manufacturer of Dulux-branded paint products, was scuppered by the Competition Commission in a bid to protect decorative coatings prices. The deal was announced in June as AkzoNobel sought to further strengthen its African footprint after reaching an agreement with Japanese, Osaka-based Kansai Paint to acquire its paints and coatings activities in the region. The commission, in a statement said yesterday that it had prohi- bited a proposed deal by AkzoNobel, an Amsterdam-based company that manufactures chemicals and chemical products, to acquire Kansai Plascon Africa and Kansai Plascon East Africa as it was likely to result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition. The commission said it found that the proposed merger would…

BUSINESS Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) for the ailing Tongaat Hulett’s two subsidiaries, Tongaat Hulett Limited and Tongaat Hulett Development Proprietary, have entered into an agreement with cane growers, both informal and commercial to make outstanding payments within the current month while plans are afoot for the group to resume operations next week. In a statement yesterday the South African Sugar Cane Growers Association (Sasa) said that they had accepted a proposal by the Tongaat Hulett Limited BRPs that ensures payments owing to growers for cane delivered to Tongaat Hulett mills. The agreement covers payments still outstanding to cane growers and industry service providers, as well as the payments that will be due at the end of November for the cane delivered in October 2022. “But the crisis for the industry is…