MARIAM ISA, Johannesburg | Tuesday 12.00pm.
LIFE assurer Liberty Group says it will not be able to dip into its R3,5-billion cashpile until the outcome of a hostile bid for its controlling shareholder is clear.
”The so-called war chest is now R3,5-billion,” Liberty Chief Executive Roy Andersen said.
He was speaking after the company announced it and controlling shareholder Standard Bank had sold their 29,9% stake in London-based Liberty International to property group British Land for 515-million.
Andersen declined to say what Liberty will do with the money, but said that a share buyback is out of the question now as the company’s stock is trading at a premium to its embedded value.
”Obviously these strategies will unfold over the next few months – we will not make them known until the results of the potential Nedcor bid for Standard are known – that could have some implications for us,” Andersen said.
”We made it clear in our annual report that we are going to focus on financial services – and that ties in to why we sold our stake in Liberty International, as that is essentially a property company,” he said.
Nedcor has made a hostile R30-billion all-paper bid for its bigger rival Stanbic. A decision on the deal is expected from the finance ministry in the coming weeks. — Reuters