Star 2024-02-05

It sold properties and shares in the group worth about R15 billion in the course of last week THE SALTZMAN family that founded Dis-Chem Pharmacies have sold properties and shares in the group worth about R15 billion last week. The group said on Friday that an independent professional expert had found its R478.6 million purchase of Columbia Falls, a property company that houses the group’s Midrand distribution centre and head office, from a trust controlled by the Saltzmans, was fair. This sale followed hard on the heels of the sale last week by founder Ivan Saltzman of 50 million shares in Dis-Chem for about R1.42bn, while his son, Saul Satzman, also sold 3 million shares for R87.9m. Dis-Chem is a leading retail pharmacy group in South…

SANLAM plans to acquire up to 100% of the shares of Assupol Holdings (Assupol), through a scheme of arrangement, with a fallback offer to Assupol shareholders for a purchase price of around R6.5 billion. The proposed deal will see Assupol become part of Sanlam’s retail mass cluster and together with Sanlam Sky, Safrican and the Capitec JV. Deal Leaders International chief executive Andrew Bahlmann said, given the compatibility of the two companies, this deal offered “considerable value”. He said Assupol’s market capitalisation on the Cape Town Stock Exchange was around R4.94bn at February 1, 2024, but on June 30, 2023, the date of the last audited financial statements, Assupol’s net assets value was R5.39bn, with the embedded value, the more common valuation measure of insurance companies, at R7.07bn,…

LARGE South African textiles manufac- turers are struggling against imports while competition from non-compliant factories are also eating into their market-share. Non-compliant textile manufacturers have been problematic for the industry, especially in rural and peri- urban areas, where unfair labour practices and poor remuneration have become the order of the day, according to recent findings. The Southern African Textile and Workers’ Union (Sactwu) said last week that big South African clothing and apparel retailers should shoulder the blame for the “deplorable and terrible working conditions” in the country’s textiles industry. Now, some large textile producers have called for an investiga- tion into the industry to root out operators flouting labour and health standards. Ajit Valjee, a director for JMV Textiles, told Business Report in an interview: “There are most definitely…

TECH GIANT Prosus said it and other share- holders are looking to sack the billionaire founder of Indian edtech start-up Byju’s as the once high-flying company faces deep financial woes. Indian media reports said the move had the backing of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic venture founded by Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. Byju’s, once one of India’s most valuable start-ups, is bleeding money, and has seen auditor Deloitte resign over corporate governance issues. It is embroiled in a legal fight with US lenders over a $1.2 billion (R23bn) loan. The company is being probed by India’s financial investigative agency, has laid off thousands of employees, and has seen its $22bn valuation crash by an estimated 90% over the past year. Prosus said that…

SHELL Downstream South Africa has announced the appointment of Aluwani Museisi as Country Chairperson for South Africa. Museisi succeeds Hloniphizwe Mtolo, who served Shell South Africa over the past nine years, the company said in a statement on Friday. “We would like to thank Mr Mtolo for his considerable contributions to Shell South Africa, and we wish him well in his future endeavours,” it said. Museisi until recently led the Corporate Relations function for Shell in South Africa, where he was responsible for Communications, Gov- ernment Relations, Social Investment, Trans- formation and External Relations teams. His background includes significant roles in both the government and private sectors. “I am honoured to accept the responsibility of leading an exceptional team, making a difference and deepening our external and internal partnerships. “I…

REGULATION was killing mining in South Africa, Peter Major, a director a Mining at Modern Corporate Solutions, told the 19th McCloskey Southern African Coal Conference on Friday. “Regulation is like a nuclear fallout and it is killing mining in South Africa. I have been in the business for the past 42 years and unless things change we will follow the path of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia that took a thriving mining industry in the 1960s to the brink of extinction in the early 1990s. “Once the politicians stepped out of the way and lifted the restrictions, then the mining industry revived and we could see something similar happening here if regulations are eased,” Major said. He shared a slide that showed the abstract of a…