The JSE will see a fresh wave of company delistings in the coming months, with a number of shares departing the bourse.
The bulk of these are smaller entities that have limited free float and often little to no trades daily. African Rainbow Capital, the first in the current wave, delisted in May.
Trencor
Trencor will delist on 22 July, following the approval from shareholders to wind up the company and liquidate it.
It has been listed on the JSE for 70 years, delivering what it termed “super-long-term returns” when celebrating its 75th birthday in 2005.
By that point – 2005 – an investment of R1 000 in Trencor in 1955 would’ve been worth R4.4 million.
Over time, Trencor built up a sizeable stake in Textainer, one of the world’s biggest shipping container leasing groups.
It unbundled these shares in two phases (2019 and 2020) and has been a cash company listed on the JSE, which “is in the process of distributing its available cash resources to shareholders”.
At the end of December, it held R1.465 billion of cash but paid the bulk of this out as a special cash dividend of 730 cents a share in February. It will return the remaining cash in the form of special dividend this month.
AH Vest
AH Vest – formerly African Heritage Investment Limited – was established in 1988 and manufactures food sauces and condiments under its own brands (All Joy and Very Peri) as well as private label products for Shoprite, Pick n Pay and OK Foods.
In 2012, Eastern Trading (which is owned by the Darsot family) acquired a majority stake in AH Vest. Eastern Trading currently owns or controls 95.7% of AH Vest shares.
It is offering 55c a share, which it says is a nearly 2 000% premium to the current 3c share price.
It says “the recent changes in Section 10 of the JSE Listings Requirements around the ordinary course of business as well as the erratic share price and poor liquidity of the share effectively removes the reason for maintaining a listing on the JSE”.
“The resultant cost of compliance due to the low market capitalisation is prohibitive.”
AH Vest has a market value of R3 million.
Ayo
A similar situation exists at Ayo Technology Solutions, whose largest shareholder is Iqbal Survé’s Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (46%). The company agreed on a R619 million settlement with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) in 2024 over the latter’s controversial investment when Ayo listed in 2017.
The PIC invested R4.3 billion in the group, for a 29% stake. It took Ayo to court in 2019 in an attempt to have that deal set aside.
Today, Ayo has a market capitalisation of just R134 million.
In May, Sekunjalo said it would take the company private at 52c a share (it closed Monday at 35c).
As part of the announcement, Ayo says “the company is subject to elevated expenditures arising from its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), including but not limited to, listing fees and sponsor-related charges”.
“In addition, the remuneration awarded to executive management is considerable, reflecting market-aligned compensation structures consistent with those of comparable listed entities. Further, the ongoing legal litigation is expected to increase operating costs.”
Tongaat Hulett
Beyond Trencor, AH-Vest and Ayo, Tongaat Hulett remains listed but suspended.
It is limping through the business rescue process with Vision purchasing the group’s South African sugar assets as well as those in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana.
At some point relatively soon, it will also disappear from the JSE.
MTN Zakhele Futhi
MTN’s Zakhele Futhi vehicle, which declared a special distribution by way of the return of contributed tax capital, will also delist as part of the unwinding of this broad-based black economic empowerment transaction.
The distribution, of R20 a share, is the exact same amount that investors subscribed to shares for in 2016.
Assura
Last week, Primary Health Properties shareholders gave their approval for its plan to acquire peer Assura plc. Both have a second inward listing on the JSE, and both have portfolios of healthcare properties in the UK.
Assura’s market cap is R39 billion, while Primary Health Properties has a market cap of R30 billion.
This transaction will close later this year, with Assura disappearing from the LSE and JSE.
MultiChoice out … and Canal+ in?
Once Canal+’s takeover of MultiChoice completes later this year, the latter will also delist from the JSE.
The French group has always said that it “intends that, should its European listing proceed [which happened in December], there will be an opportunity for South African investors to become shareholders of the combined entity as part of a secondary inward listing on the JSE”.
No further updates have been provided – but as part of this transaction, MultiChoice should delist, with Canal+ listing not too long after that.
Aside from the mooted Canal+ listing, there’s not much else on the horizon save for the potential listing of Cell C as part of Blue Label’s “portfolio simplification”.
Reinet
The billion-dollar question is what will happen at Rupert-owned investment vehicle Reinet, following the sale of its 49% stake in Pension Insurance Corp (PensCorp).
The transaction, which will close in 2026, will see Reinet dispose of its largest investment. At the end of March, its PensCorp stake was valued at €3.7 billion, versus €1.2 billion in investments in various private equity and investment funds. It has another €1.8 billion in cash and liquid funds.
Whether Rupert has a blockbuster plan for this enormous pile of cash remains to be seen.
The Anton Rupert Trust and related parties hold 25% of Reinet. We may yet see this R104 billion company departing the JSE too …
