Ann Crotty

Writer-at-Large at Business Day

Writer at Moneyweb

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Articles

Barloworld delay casts doubt on deal

4 days ago | currencynews.co.za | Ann Crotty

Well, an offer for Barloworld initially touted as too good to be rejected seems to be getting the cold shoulder from shareholders. With minimal acceptance of the bid by the original May 9 deadline, the Newco consortium behind the R120-a-share offer needed more time. Without an extension or the waiving of a key condition, it had no hope of securing control of the storied South African industrial group. On Friday, Barloworld’s independent board announced it has agreed to give Newco until June 30.
AGMs: Going online to virtually dodge accountability?

1 week ago | currencynews.co.za | Ann Crotty

It may seem a bit of a stretch, but with increasing numbers of companies pushing for online-only AGMs, what are the chances of shareholder capitalism drifting towards the sort of autocracy the US president is trying to popularise in the political sphere? Before you guffaw at the suggestion, who would have thought, as recently as a year ago, that the world would be witness to the sort of jaw-dropping assaults on democracy that appear to have become commonplace in the US?
Ayo’s legal headaches mount

1 week ago | currencynews.co.za | Ann Crotty

Ayo Technology Solutions, which has just had its JSE suspension lifted, is rather like one of those hapless cartoon characters to whom things keep happening; frequently, bad things. Mind you, it’s enjoyed a few outstandingly good things too. For instance, on December 14 2017, just days before Ayo was due to list on the JSE, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) signed two irrevocable subscription applications subscribing for 99.8-million shares in Ayo at a price of R43 a share.
What Trump’s trade rivals might use as payback

3 weeks ago | currencynews.co.za | Ann Crotty

In all the tit-for-tatting that has passed for negotiation in an international trade environment dominated by US President Donald Trump, services have received remarkably little attention. Until now. One obvious reason for the lack of attention is that the services story doesn’t fit into Trump’s big narrative about the US being a victim of global trade. And, right now, trade is Trump’s story.
Barloworld buyout a step closer as PIC caves - Currency News

3 weeks ago | currencynews.co.za | Ann Crotty

Africa’s largest asset manager, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), has stuck to its guns and extracted a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) deal worth R3bn from the consortium wrangling to buy Barloworld. The Newco consortium, led by Saudi Arabia’s Zahid Group and Barloworld’s CEO Dominic Sewela, offered to buy out shareholders in the 123-year-old industrial company for R120 per share last December in a landmark deal valued at R23.3bn.
Why fund managers need to become more active

3 weeks ago | currencynews.co.za | Ann Crotty

Some clever American academics have done intensive research and come to the conclusion that not all shares are equal; some are more equal than others. It depends on who’s holding them. For this, we should be very glad.
Koos Bekker’s share sales: Bricks over tech?

1 month ago | currencynews.co.za | Ann Crotty

If you happen to agree with US historian Graham T Allison’s “Thucydides Trap” view of global affairs (the state of “inevitable discombobulation that occurs when a rising power threatens to displace a ruling power”) and, if you also believe that China will emerge the superior global force from that historical process, then Tencent is surely one of the most attractive investments on our current turbulent investment horizon.
The trouble with the King codes’ toothless director recommendations

1 month ago | currencynews.co.za | Ann Crotty

There’s an air of weary resignation about the draft King V code’s recommendations on director independence. As though the drafters are thinking: “Surely this isn’t necessary? Surely this is tantamount to repeating the bloody obvious?” But repeat it, they do. And on this issue repetition is necessary. It probably doesn’t help that the King committee keeps providing escape clauses. In governance that’s referred to as “substance over form”. Take a look at the recently released draft.
Tau’s R100bn transformation ‘plan’ void of detail

1 month ago | currencynews.co.za | Ann Crotty

You have to wonder where the mandarins running the department of trade, industry and competition (DTIC) have been hanging out for the past 31 years. Or at least where the authors of treatises such as the recently released “Draft Transformation Fund Concept Document” have been holed up. The so-called “concept document” purports to provide details about the functioning of the R100bn fund first announced by DTIC minister Parks Tau at the end of 2024. It does nothing of the sort.
Rating the AGMs: The last of the season

1 month ago | currencynews.co.za | Ann Crotty

The last three AGMs of the first quarter season (that Currency was able to attend) represents a fairly motley crew. Each, in its own way, is involved in the finance industry but none is a bank. The first (RMH) is at the end of its life, the second (WeBuyCars or WBC) is at the beginning of its life as a listed entity, and the third (Coronation Fund Managers), is somewhere in between.