Is African Bank desperate?

Good morning Voornaam,

You'll notice that this is a little bit later than usual. I'm quite sure you know why! Last night was absolutely incredible for every South African.

If you think you've got a tough week ahead, imagine waking up as England after watching that game. In fact, just imagine waking up as England in general, as they lost to Afghanistan in the cricket yesterday!

The sport is wonderful at the moment and it's a timely reminder of the best things about us as humans. My social media feed at the moment is basically a mix of war and sport. It's extremely difficult at times. Do what you need to do to protect your headspace and be grateful for simply waking up in a place that isn't being torn apart.

Most of all, take every opportunity you have to celebrate something wonderful. We can take nothing for granted in this life.

Moving on, I would like to highlight the two ways in this mailer to learn about the latest Investec structured product. There's a Ghost Stories podcast with Japie Lubbe (who has many years of experience that he shared in the discussion) and there's a very helpful article about the opportunities and risks in the market that these products try to navigate.

This Thursday, you have the opportunity to engage directly with the management teams of Calgro M3 and Bell Equipment on Unlock the Stock. Brought to you by A2X, the event is free to attend and is scheduled for 12pm. You need to register at this link>>> 

Don't forget that the bizval team (i.e. including me) will be hosting a webinar on how to buy a business. This is a really interesting way to diversify your wealth, especially because the right private companies can outperform listed equities in this environment. To attend the webinar at 12pm on Wednesday, register at this link>>>

Enjoy your Monday!

NEW: Ghost Stories podcast

In the latest Ghost Stories podcast focusing on structured products with the Investec team, Japie Lubbe joined me to unpack the Optimal Investment Growth Basket.

It offers a maximum annualised return in USD of 9.8% per annum over five years, with 100% capital protection at maturity in USD.

Listen to the show to learn about how this product works and what the benefits and risks are.

NEW: Learn about structured products

For additional insights into structured products and for those who prefer articles to podcasts, this piece from Investec touches on the opportunities in the market as well as the risks.

Structured products are designed to navigate that environment.

NEW: Magic Markets podcast

In this brand new episode of Magic Markets, we dig into the food producer sector. This has been a tough place to play in these inflationary conditions, but why?

Thanks to B2IT, you can find out. We looked at McCormick (20% market share in spices in the US) and a selection of South African food producers.

Of course, PepsiCo and my favourite chips (blue Dorito's) get a mention as well!

New: Ghost Wrap podcast

(Famous Brands vs. Spur | Sibanye-Stillwater | De Beers | Mondi | Life Healthcare | Datatec | Fortress)

The Ghost Wrap podcast looks at trends in local restaurants and diamonds, as well as news in the mining, paper, IT and property sectors. Ghost Wrap is brought to you by Mazars.

Ghost Global

Have you ever asked yourself why SHEIN is so cheap?

Dominique Olivier loves clothes. She loves saving money. She doesn’t love arguably damaging business practices, with many questions being asked around the world about SHEIN.

The lessons dished out by the markets this year have been all about how companies cope in inflationary conditions. The winners have one thing in common: pricing power.

TreasuryONE Market Update

We may be enjoying the sport in South Africa, but there are terrible things happening in the Middle East and markets are watching those developments closely. US Treasury yields opened higher this morning and gold closed strongly at $1,932 on Friday. The rand is trading just below R19 to the US dollar.

There's not much in the way of US economic data coming out this week, other than retail sales numbers. There will be Chinese data releases later this week, including Q3 GDP, retail sales and industrial production.

Brent Crude is holding at the $90 level after Friday's jump.

NEW: Ghost Bites

Get the latest on African Bank and Sasfin, Deneb and Renergen. It's all available with a single click in Ghost Bites.

African Bank seems to be overpaying

Friday wasn't the busiest day of news, but the Sasfin announcement was well worth paying attention to.

The bank is selling off two major parts of its business to African Bank for R3.26 billion. This is a much larger deal for African Bank than even the recent acquisition of Grindrod Bank. For Sasfin shareholders, this is a massive win, as evidenced by a 40% leap in the share price on Friday.

The thing I can't understand is why African Bank is paying a premium to net asset value (NAV) for businesses that generate wholly inadequate returns on equity. Sasfin has been trading at a significant discount to NAV, which is why news of a disposal at NAV gave the share price a boost.

I unpack this further in Ghost Bites this morning, along with the latest news from Deneb and a note on Renergen's official response to the Twitter / X storm around the company. Weirdly, Renergen opted not to release the statement on SENS.

Get everything you need in Ghost Bites here>>>

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