London and South Africa
Old Mutual Limited, an insurance company founded 173 years ago, moved its main listing back to Johannesburg on 26 June and has dual-listings in Namibia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and London, as reported by Bloomberg and Moneyweb. Old Mutual plc terminated its listing on the London Stock Exchange on 25 June, and spun off UK wealth manager Quilter plc which was listed separately on the LSE (and dual listed on the JSE) the same day with a market capitalization of £2.75bn based on a £1.45 share price. It also sold its US asset manager and Latin American units as it believed each unit would be worth more separately. The “home-coming” was marked with a parade in Sandton and events in Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Old Mutual had moved its head office and primary listing to London in 1999, according to Reuters, but now its prominent riverside London head office is being wound down, with staff down from 120 to 40 in 2018.
The stock was listed in Johannesburg at ZAR28.50, valuing the company at some ZAR140bn ($10.7bn). According to Sanlam analyst Renier de Bruyn, quoted by Bloomberg, the share price did not reflect the hoped-for “value unlock” and Old Mutual was at an “attractive” price-earnings ratio of 7.5x, compared to 13x for its biggest South African rival, Sanlam. Bloomberg quotes Brad Preston, chief investment officer at Mergence Investment Managers Ltd: “Old Mutual’s strategy of trying to build a completely global business I think clearly has failed. We’ve seen them reverse that completely.” It bought United Asset Management Corp in USA for $1.4 billion in 2000 and Skandia AB in Sweden for $8bn in 2006. Between mid-1999 and June 2018 Old Mutual’s shares in Johannesburg returned 480% while Sanlam’s returned almost 2,000%. Sanlam had focused on African markets and reached 34 countries, including buying out remaining shares in Morocco’s Saham Finances SA earlier in 2018 for $1.1bn. Old Mutual is only in 13 countries.
Next step will be the unbundling of shares in Nedbank Group by about December 2018. Old Mutual owns 53% since it bought in under apartheid capital controls in 1986 and it is expected to reduce that to 19.9%.
London
Microfinance firm ASA International listed on the London Stock Exchange on 13 July. Its 85% shareholder Catalyst Microfinance Investment had partially sold half its stake by offering 40m shares at GBP2.24 each. ASA International was set up in 2007 and is one of the larges and most profitable international microfinance institutions, with 1.8m clients, particularly low-income and underserved women entrepreneurs. It operates in Asia (7)%) and in Africa (30% of clients, including in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. It has 1,387 branches and employs 9,000 staff.
Mauritius and London
Grit Real Estate Income Group, a pan-African real estate company based in Mauritius and investing in 7 countries Botswana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Ghana and Zambia with plans for Senegal and the Seychelles, raised $132.1m through selling 92.4m shares at $1.43 each, before listing on the London Stock Exchange main board on 31 July. The new funds are for more investments in Mozambique and Ghana. Previously there were 214m shares listed in Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Stock Exchange of Mauritius. Bronwyn Corbett and Sandile Nomvete built the Delta International Property Fund from R2.2bn to R11.8bn. It became Mara Delta Property Holdings and was then rebranded Grit and the company headquarters moved to Mauritius, according to this 2017 interview in Finweek magazine.
Corbett commented in a press release: “”We are delighted to have successfully completed our Listing on London Stock Exchange and we are proud to be the first London listed pan-African real estate group”. Earlier she was quoted saying the African real estate sector “offers some of the best returns in the global property market. We have a proven track record of generating income from our selective and diversified range of assets, built through our close and detailed understanding of the region’s property investment environment. The listing will support our aim to grow our portfolio further and become the leading real estate owner on the African continent outside South Africa.” The share price was set at net asset value and the aim is to yield 12% a year in US dollars.
Nigeria
The Federal Government of Nigeria listed a NGN10.7 billion ($29.5m) FGN Green Bond 2022 on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on 21 July. It offered a coupon of 13.48% and aims to finance initiatives including solar plants and hydropower.
South Africa
Anchor Capital became the 9th listing on the A2X Markets on 19 July through a secondary listing. It was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s AltX platform in September 2016 after raising ZAR60m ($5.4m) through an IPO.
