Johannesburg – Shares in New Africa Investments Limited (Nail) were trading yesterday at R9.20 a share signalling that a counteroffer to the Safika-led consortium’s bid to buy Nail’s assets at R9 a share could be welcome.
Safika’s bid values Nail’s assets at about R1 billion.
Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) is the only other company that has shown a firm interest in bidding for Nail’s assets and which could make a counteroffer.
Marcel Golding, HCI’s chairman, said HCI had completed a due diligence on Nail’s assets and was evaluating its position.
Meloy Horn, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, said given the interest in Nail’s assets subsequent to the Safika-led consortium offer, it was not surprising that the share price was trading above the original bid.
David Barrit, the spokesperson for Safika, said: “Our offer is clear and clean, while many offers are talks, not reality.”
The Nail board’s sub-committee is expected to respond before the end of this week to Safika’s bid. The company has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to evaluate the offer and help the subcommittee make a recommendation to the board.
The Safika consortium is interested in acquiring all the assets of Nail, which include radio stations Radio Jacaranda, Kfm and Kaya FM, the outdoor media business, New Africa Books, Leadership magazine, Sowetan and Sowetan Sunday World.
Nail’s share price closed unchanged at R9.20 yesterday.

Source: Business Report – Gugulakhe Masango