Some deal situations are stranger than others. Not only is it unfortunate that Remgro's negotiations with the Mediclinic board are now playing out in public (thanks to press speculation), but there's a very surprising concert party at the table.
Remgro owns 44.6% of Mediclinic and they have a long-standing relationship, so one would expect a deal like this to be negotiated behind closed doors, culminating in a joint announcement with an offer that is supported by the board. That may still happen, of course, but it won't be behind closed doors.
The other party at the table working together with Remgro is Mediterranean Shipping Company. Yes, the cruise liner (and container shipping) company. This is such a left-field development that I don't even know where to start. Will there be floating hospitals? Will there be hospitals themed around boats? Will the next season of Grey 's Anatomy be combined with Below Deck? That would please Mrs Ghost, at least.
These ideas are daft of course, but I'm struggling to think of a good explanation for MSC's participation here. More importantly, there may not even be a deal. The first price put forward (463 pence including the 3 pence per share dividend) was rejected. It's higher than the current traded price in London of nearly 442 pence. Be very careful speculating in this stock, as MSC may literally sail into the sunset without making another offer.
In addition to this fascinating news yesterday, there were updates from Steinhoff subsidiary Pepco Group, Vukile Property Fund, British American Tobacco, Motus, MultiChoice Group, Anglo American and others. You can read all of them in Ghost Bites, the ea siest way to get right up to speed on what's happening in the local market.
In today's feature article, I focused on Mr Price's full year earnings which were excellent to say the least. Value fashion is a great place to be at the moment, though Mr Price did note that consumers have come under pressure in the past couple of months. For full details on the result and how I'm thinking about a position on Mr Price in my own portfolio, read the feature article.
I'm keeping a strong eye on the rand, something that is made a lot easier by the team at TreasuryONE. Wichard Cilliers (Head of Market Risk) gives us great daily insights in Ghost Mail on the currency and other major market forces like inflation data. The rand managed to touch the R15.17 level yesterday before weakening to the R15.38 mark, which is in line with Wichard's ongoing reminders that R15.30 is an important and difficult level to beat. Emerging markets moved with us this time around, as the US dollar strengthened across the board. That strength was driven by dovish statements from the European Central Bank, which gave no definite timelines on rate hikes.
Watch out for CPI numbers out of the US today, which should keep the markets volatile and exciting heading into the weekend.
As is the norm on a Friday, the team at DealMakers has brought us great summaries and thought leadership pieces related to the corporate finance industry. This is where you get to read about the most interesting and highest-stakes deals, like mergers and acquisitions or major capital raises. You'll find all t he new articles below or you can find them here on the website.
In case you missed the Westbrooke Alternative Asset Management webinar on private debt (which I watched and thoroughly enjoyed as it was packed with insights), you can find the recording at this link.
There's a brand new Magic Markets episode to keep you warm this weekend. In fact, there are Three Burning Questions to guarantee that warmth. Mohammed Nalla and I decided to come up with three questions for each other and the result was a really fun episode. We spoke about everything from gold through to appetite for global vs. loca l stocks. We looked at how bottom-up analysis needs to be combined with what the price action in the market is telling us. We also touched on our learnings from running a business together. There's something in Episode 79 for everyone and you can enjoy it at this link.
Have a great weekend!
