Africa Equity

Life Healthcare, the South African private hospitals group, has completed its R9bn ($673m) rights issue to reduce its debt after completing its acquisition of Alliance Medical Group in the UK, despite political turmoil during the subscription period.

Life Healthcare, the South African private hospitals group, has finalised the terms for the R9bn ($712m) rights issue it is carrying out to finance its acquisition of Alliance Medical Group, the UK medical imaging services provider.

A bold £2bn mandatorily exchangeable bond issue for Anil Agarwal, founder and chairman of Vedanta Resources, captured global headlines on Wednesday and Thursday as he used it to buy a stake of about 12% in Anglo American, the mining group.

Royal Bafokeng Platinum raised R1.2bn ($92m) on Wednesday with its first convertible bond, as it ramps up its investment again after a recovery in the platinum price.

Investec Australia Property Fund, the Johannesburg-listed real estate investment trust focused on commercial property in Australia and New Zealand, set terms for its partially underwritten R1.5bn ($111m) rights issue on Tuesday. Investors marked the shares up 2.3% on the day.

Shares in Life Healthcare Group Holdings, one of South Africa’s largest private hospital operators, closed 2.5% higher on Monday after it said late on Friday that its rights issue would be R1.7bn ($130m) smaller than planned.

Shares in Life Healthcare, one of South Africa’s leading private hospital operators, rose 1.5% on Tuesday after it said it would raise R10.7bn ($756m) in a rights issue to reduce its leverage after buying Alliance Medical Group, the UK provider of diagnostic imaging services.

The busy equity block trade action in Europe since the US election has continued into its third week, though market participants are beginning to brace for the outcome of the Italian referendum on Sunday.

MTN Zakhele, a black economic empowerment scheme, has unwound its position in MTN Group, the South African mobile telecoms company, through the first block trade in the company’s shares for six years.

The busy equity block trade action, widely predicted by ECM bankers when the US presidential election produced a bounce in share prices, has continued this week with a string of sales totalling over $1.5bn.

Rhodes Food Group, the South African producer of canned food and ready meals, has completed a R663m ($46m) capital increase, through an accelerated bookbuild launched on Wednesday night.

Bayer, the German life sciences group, picked Tuesday night to launch the first part of its $19bn equity financing for its $66bn takeover of Monsanto. Bayer's deal comes as equity markets are revitalised by the new conviction that Western policy is shifting to reflation.