There is an absolute storm brewing over Ascendis and I think it could get ugly. The kind of ugly that involves lawyers.

Late on Friday, Ascendis released an announcement responding to allegations on social media that shareholders had been approached by a "large US private equity firm" to acquire all of Ascendis Health's shares. Ascendis used careful wording here, noting that they had not "received any correspondence that would constitute a firm intention to make an offer" and that no such offer may be forthcoming in the short- to medium-term.

We are stepping deep into Takeover Law here, governed by the Companies Act and regulated by the Takeover Regulation Panel. It's serious stuff.

None of that deterred @retail_activist who published highly confidential documents on Twitter late on Friday night, detailing what could best be described as an expression of interest in Ascendis (if not a firm intention offer). It appears that the pictures have subsequently been deleted, as I couldn't find them yesterday.

All I can say on this matter is that activists need to be highly versed in the law and what is or isn't allowed. The fight for shareholder rights may be admirable but isn't worth potentially life-ruining legal battles. I'm not sure how this might play out from here, but I do know that Ascendis has deeper pockets for any legal fees than any activist does.

Moving on, Stenprop has sold an office building in Guernsey which means that 92% of the fund's portfolio is now attributed to multi-let industrial. This sale will unlock over GBP25 million for further acquisitions of industrial properties.

In happy news, Mediclinic will procure renewable electricity from Energy Exchange, a company that provides a platform to access renewable energy from independent power producers in South Africa. Remgro owns 35% of Energy Exchange and is a substantial shareholder in Mediclinic.

Long4Life has released a trading statement for the six months to August 2021 and has done the right thing by including a comparison to the same period in 2019 as a pre-Covid base. HEPS will be between 35% and 52% higher than the pre-Covid period. Sport fans will be pleased to learn that the Sport and Recreation division is trading at similar levels to 2019, which gives us hope of a return to a normal world.

Argent Industrial has agreed to buy American Shutters for R56.9m on a Price/Earnings multiple of nearly 5.9x. The company has absolutely nothing to do with America, with a head office in Cape Town!

WBHO's share price is up n early 32% in 2021 as the construction sector has improved. Things are so much better than the company has even declared a dividend.

There's a new Magic Markets episode for you to enjoy, in which we discussed the commodity economy - the companies and sectors that are resilient in an inflationary environment.

Finally, Chris Gilmour updates us on global economic and political news and Today's Trustee gives you a link to the latest full magazine.

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Good luck t his week!

The Finance Ghost