| Good morning Voornaam,
Every week, the Magic Markets podcast opens with this line:
"The markets. We just can't get enough of them."
It's true, we can't. Neither can you, which is why you are reading InceConnect this Monday morning. It's great to have you here.
Every company likes to "own its narrative" in the market. This means that the management team tells a particular story and hopes that everyone will nod along in agreement, not asking too many difficult questions. This is why it is so important to always read SENS announcements and other news with a critical eye and a dose of skepticism.
It's also why I enjoy doing this so much. I've seen enough in my previous life as an investment banker to know when companies are trying to avoid an awkward topic.
On Friday, Prosus announced that the vote to go ahead with the share exchange offer achieved 90.1% votes in favour. It sounds like a resounding success for the company and a failure for the shareholder activists, until you look deeper. In the lead story today, I explain the dual-voting structure in the group and demonstrate why the vote was a dead rubber.
The real hurdle is that the company needs enough Naspers shareholders to agree to swap their Naspers shares for Prosus shares. This is where shareholder activism has a chance of success.
The other JSE-related piece this morning is on Transaction Capital, which is admittedly one of my favourite companies. Even though the share price has had an incredible run, the market still supported the bookbuild on Friday with vigour. Clearly, the market isn't shy to give more capital to that management team.
Episode 33 of Magic Markets is ready for you as well. I co-host this podcast with Mohammed Nalla, a macroeconomics expert and an experienced investor. We talk about the kinds of things we used to discuss as friends and colleagues in the banking and financial services industry. Magic Markets is your invitation to be a fly on the wall for those discussions, as we take institutional-quality thinking to a retail audience. You'll find the podcast player in the article link below.
If you want to scan the previous episodes to see what catches your eye, you'll find all of them here or in your favourite podcast player.
I'm also thrilled to share our first-ever winning letter with you. Last week, we invited readers to send a letter to us, commenting on the articles in InceConnect or sharing insights and personal experiences in investing. The prize is a R250 EasyEquities voucher for the winning letter each week.
Congratulations to Ilan Aronson for his winning letter about the highs and lows of being a growth investor. If you want to be as cool as Ilan, send your letter to news@inceconnect.co.za and help.me@thefinanceghost.com with the subject line: My Ince Insights.
Finally, those of you who have signed up to receive Ghost Mail each week will know how quickly your knowledge is growing as a result. Ghost Mail is my platform where I unpack key investment topics and explain them in a way that you'll understand. It's free and goes out every Tuesday morning. You can sign up here.
Good luck in the markets this week!
The Finance Ghost
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