It’s time to seize the Barclays Africa Group investment opportunity
Tough times can have a silver lining if they allow investors to buy promising assets at bargain prices
Participating in the Barclays PLC sale of more than one-third of South African-listed Barclays Africa Group (BGA) catapulted the latter into a top 10 share across most of Allan Gray’s client mandates, almost overnight. Simon Raubenheimer, portfolio manager at Allan Gray, discusses the investment case. Earlier this quarter, Allan Gray clients had the chance to participate in a rare opportunity: on May 31 2017, UK-based Barclays PLC announced the sale of 33.7% of Barclays Africa Group (BGA) for R37.7-billion. The placement price of R132 per share was at an almost 10% discount to the closing share price on the day before the announcement and the average price over the preceding month. At short notice our clients got to invest a substantial sum of money in a decent asset at a great price. Barclays’ history with Barclays Group Africa The lion’s share of Barclays’ investment in what was then called Absa was made in 2005 at R82.50 (or £8 per share from their perspective). A further investm...
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