Africa Equity

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.

Shares in Dis-Chem Pharmacies, the South African retail pharmacy group, closed 16% above their offer price on their debut on Friday, after the company had raised R4.38bn ($305m) by pricing its IPO slightly above the middle of its range on Monday.

Dis-Chem Pharmacies, the South African retail pharmacy group, has tightened the price range on its Johannesburg IPO, which values it at up to R16bn ($1.1bn).

The IPO of Dis-Chem Pharmacies, the South African retail pharmacy group, was covered at its largest possible size two working days into the bookbuild, as the South African rand rallied on news that finance minister Pravin Gordhan will no longer face fraud charges.

This week has seen the completion of the largest UK IPO since Worldpay, despite a cautious mood gripping investors following a string of failed IPOs in Europe. A significant M&A driven rights offer and a bold convertible bond from a prominent shopping centre group have also reached successful conclusions.

Shares in Remgro, the South African investment company led by billionaire Johann Rupert, rose 1.5% on Monday morning after it completed its R9.3bn ($676m) rights offer to finance a possible acquisition of SABMiller’s stake in Distell Group, the maker of Amarula liqueur.

Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust, the Reit managed by the property arm of UK asset manager Schroders, has priced its second capital increase on the London and Johannesburg exchanges.

Dis-Chem Pharmacies, one of the leading South African pharmacy chains, is preparing an IPO on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to raise funds to expand its operations and reduce its debt.

There was a cheerful mood in European equity capital markets throughout September, despite clear risks of volatility on the horizon and the IPO of Telxius falling into difficulty. The health of the market was highlighted this week by the success of a €2.5bn capital raising by Steinhoff, the South African retail group.

GlaxoSmithKline disposed of its remaining 6.2% stake in Aspen Pharmacare, one of Africa’s largest pharmaceuticals companies, through an accelerated book build launched on Wednesday evening in a deal that was said to be comfortably oversubscribed after a wall-crossing process.

Steinhoff, the South African retail group, has completed a €2.45bn capital increase supported by one of South Africa’s richest men, Christoffel Wiese, and the Public Investment corp, of which €556m was raised through an accelerated bookbuild which ended up being nearly four times oversubscribed.

The cheerful and businesslike mood in European equity capital markets, despite clear risks of volatility in the offing, was highlighted again today by the launch of a €2.5bn capital raising by Steinhoff, the South African retail group.