on the spot
GIULIETTA TALEVI: Why Christo Wiese’s Shoprite share transaction is cause for concern
Christo Wiese and a complicated share transaction go together like Checkers and a heydays special. And in the latest proposal regarding the retail titan, Shoprite may issue 20-million shares to Wiese in exchange for a chunk of his high-voting stock. The price tag is a not inconsiderable R3.3bn. That’s a lot of baked beans and, given mounting shareholder disquiet, in no way a gimme. Business Day asked Coronation portfolio manager Neville Chester what they find objectionable about the deferred share repurchase … The quantum. These are shares which do not have an economic interest and that we think the value they’ve attributed to the shares is inappropriate. One argument is that the shares give the owner negative control and are therefore valuable. How would you explain that to a lay person? It effectively means they can block any kind of resolution which requires more than a 50% approval, and obviously, it would be quite difficult to even get something through with a 50% approval assu...
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