MONDAY, 11.30AM:
INVESTMENT Bank SBC Warburg on Monday scotched speculation about the status of its recent huge purchases of Sentrachem shares when it revealed it bought 3,4-million Sentrachem shares last week, at R10,20 each, and that the purchase was for Dow SA’s account.
Until the announcement that the purchase was for Dow’s account there had been speculation about whether SBC Warburg was acting as Dow’s nominee in the purchase. This would have been important should Sentrachem minorities resist Dow’s attempts to take over Sentrachem, as these shares wuld be excluded from voting on the issue.
SBC Warburg’s document released on Monday also details the terms of Dow’s R10,50 per share offer for Sentrachem’s entire issued share capital.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
GDP ESTIMATE DROPS The government has revised its estimate on GDP for the year at 2,2%, down from the 2,9% expected earlier in the year. But consumer inflation is now estimated at 9%, down from an earlier expectation of 9,7%, and the current acount deficit is now forecast at 1,5% of GDP rather than the expected 2%.
FOREIGNERS INVEST R15bn NON_residents were net buyers of R15-billion in stocks on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange during the year to date. Last week, foreigners were net buyers of 1,6-billion in shares on the JSE.
NEW ESKOM EUROBOND ESKOM on Monday released its third eurorand bond issue this year, with a R7,5-billion 35-year zero-coupon issue. The latest issue follows two earlier issues with five and 30-year maturities, and is the longest-dated issue in the eurorand bond market so far.