SABVEST: A little less mystery, please . . .
New deal gives peek into inner workings of SA Bias, but value breakdown of unlisted investments remains opaque
The JSE boasts very few investment companies that offer the only entry point to large and attractive unlisted assets or operations. These days the bulk of the value in the JSE’s best-known investment companies — notably PSG Group, Reinet, Remgro, Hosken Consolidated Investments, African Equity Empowerment Investments and Brimstone — are all pegged to listed investments. Brait (Virgin Active, Premier and Iceland Foods), Grand Parade Investments (Burger King and SunWest) and Trematon (various property plays as well as private schooling) all hold the bulk of their portfolios in unlisted investments. But arguably the most intriguing unlisted portfolio play has been low-key investment company Sabvest. Over the years it seems to have gone out of its way to play down or obfuscate efforts to value its 59.9% stake in industrial textiles business SA Bias Industries. A transaction involving SA Bias, announced by Sabvest on January 2 (when most serious market participants were still sunning the...
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