The mystery of the R10bn JSE Distell trade
Exchange and firm tight-lipped as hefty transaction baffles shareholders
The JSE and Distell are refusing to shed any light on a R10bn trade in Distell shares on October 6, leaving minority shareholders to guess who the parties were behind the company’s biggest share trade. The shares were traded at R170 each, representing a hefty premium on the R130 at which the share price was trading on the day. Shareholders had assumed the 58.7-million shares that went through the market on October 6 were the sale by Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) of its 26.4% Distell stake to the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). But this assumption was at odds with Distell’s annual report, which stated that as at end-June 2017, the PIC held 61.6-million Distell shares, equivalent to 27.6% of the company. The company’s share register confirms that the PIC already held the 58.7-million shares at the end of April. This is in line with a Sens statement issued by Distell on April 12, which notified shareholders that a subsidiary of AB InBev had sold its 26.4% stake in Distell. The S...
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