Digging through the JSE dustbin

They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. It applies in the markets too. Successful investing is about buying the right shares at the right price. End of story. It doesn’t help to overpay for even the best companies in the world. The markets exist because opinions differ on whether companies are trash or treasure. Often, it’s just a …

View Post

Digging through the JSE dustbin

They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. It applies in the markets too. Successful investing is about buying the right shares at the right price. End of story. It doesn’t help to overpay for even the best companies in the world. The markets exist because opinions differ on whether companies are trash or treasure. Often, it’s just a …

View Post

Magic Markets Ep17: Trading the Scandals

Corporate governance failures. Frauds. Accounting misstatements. A “hole in the balance sheet” – unfortunately, these breakdowns in trust happen on the market. When they do, the repercussions are severe not just for shareholders in the company in question, but potentially for the market as a whole. Have you noticed that JSE corporates are doing fewer acquisitions in exchange for shares …

View Post

Barloworld gets more starch in its diet

The deal was originally announced in March. Barloworld would buy the Starch division from Tongaat Hulett for R5.35 billion in a critical move for Tongaat which is on a recovery road. As ever, the deal remained subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. The norm for corporate transactions is to include something called a Material Adverse Change clause, or MAC clause. …

View Post

Barloworld gets its MAC on

Corporate mergers and acquisitions are fascinating beasts. In case you’re wondering, MAC doesn’t stand for mergers and acquisitions, but more on that later. The headlines always describe the deal as though nothing can go wrong. “Tongaat Hulett sells Starch division to Barloworld for R5.35 billion,” screamed the business media back in March. The better media houses (like Creamer Media) typically …

View Post