Star 2024-04-03

IMTIAZ Patel will stay on as chairperson of the JSE-listed pay television and streaming giant MultiChoice, which is a takeover target for France’s Canal+. MultiChoice turned down Canal+’s initial offer, but the two parties have now entered into exclusive negotiations in pursuit of the deal. Patel, who was set to step down as the chairperson of MultiChoice at the end of last month, is now staying on in the role until the finalisation of Canal+’s acquisition of the South African entertainment group. “In view of the recent ruling by the Takeover Regulation Panel that required Canal+ to make an immediate mandatory offer to all MultiChoice shareholders and the cautionary Sens notice issued on March 5, 2024, in this regard, the MultiChoice Board has reached an agreement with Imtiaz Patel…

SPEAR Reit has acquired a portfolio of 13 commercial properties from Emira Property Fund valued at R 1.15 billion. The acquisition by the JSE’s only regionally focused Reit consists of a diversified portfolio in the Western Cape, which is in line with Spear’s strategy of solely investing in the province. Emira said yesterday that the disposal was part of its strategy to recycle capital, and the proceeds would be used to recycle debt and fund new acquisitions. Emira CEO Geoff Jennet said the selling price had been agreed at a small discount to book value, which was expected for this type of portfolio sale. “Emira’s capacity to successfully trade out of assets underscores its astute capital allocation and value creation capabilities,” he said. “The proceeds of the transaction will…

JSE-LISTED Pepkor Holdings shares become available for trade on A2X Markets yesterday with a market capitalisation of R68.98 billion. Pepkor has the largest retail store footprint in Southern Africa with 5 900 stores operating across nine African countries and in Brazil. Pepkor Holdings is home to many of the most trusted brands on the continent, including Ackermans, PEP, Russells and HiFi Corporation as well as Avenida in Brazil. The majority of Pepkor’s retail brands operate in the discount and value market segment, which enjoys natural resilience thanks to customers’ ability to buy “up” or “down” according to their budgets, and prevailing economic conditions. The company joins other prominent retailers with a secondary listing on A2X including, Dis-Chem, Mr Price, Clicks, Truworths, Pick…

THE UNCERTAINTY around South Africa’s 2024 elections has started to weigh down on investors and markets, with the North West University’s Business School Policy Uncertainty Index (PUI) for South Africa edging further into negative territory for the first quarter of the current year. Opinion polls and analysts say the governing ANC will require a coalition to retain its mandate, although Standard Bank analysts say President Cyril Ramaphosa’s party will garner sufficient votes to avoid a coalition. Nonetheless, the South African environment ahead of the elections has started to weigh on investors and markets, notes the North West University’s PUI released yesterday. Its PUI index for South Africa for the first quarter accelerated further into negative territory, worsening from 65.5 points to 65.8 points. “Not unexpectedly, the uncertainty around…

Naamsa says new vehicle market for March was dragged lower by 27.1% decline in export sales CAR MANUFACTURERS in South Africa are scrambling to avert a crash from the persistently stubborn downward spiral after new vehicle sales plunged for the eight consecutive month in March, which might see it miss the target for the year if the trend continues. According to the Automotive Business Council (Naamsa), domestic new vehicle sales fell by 11.7% in March year-on-year, a decline of 5 877 units down to 44 237 units from the 50 114 vehicles sold in the same month last year. Naamsa yesterday said the new vehicle market for March was dragged lower by a steep 27.1% decline in export sales as they plummeted by 8 975 units to…

THE CITRUS industry expects an increase in export volumes in the build-up to the exports season, the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA) said yesterday. Justin Chadwick, the CEO of CGA said this comes in the face of steep increases in input costs, load shedding and deteriorating public infrastructure. The increase in the export volumes was also due to younger trees coming into production across a number of regions. The CGA presented its predicted export volumes for the upcoming season at the Citrus Marketing Forum last week. The estimates provided for the 2024 season included the current prediction that 37.9 million (15kg) cartons of lemons would be exported to key markets, an increase of 7% over last year. This continued the upward curve of lemon exports, which had…