OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 10.30am.
DEMUTUALISED insurance giant Sanlam makes its long-awaited listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Monday, having raised R4-billion in its pre-listing offer to take its market capitalisation to R15,7-billion. The figure suggests a listing price of 600c, with analysts predicting the shares will trade between 700c and 900c, especially if the share sees aggressive foreign buying.
According to a Sanlam spokesperson, the bulk of the proceeds of the issue will be put towards restructuring its interests in Gensec and financial services company Santam, as well as covering the R550-million demutualisation costs.
There are a number of factors that could affect the share price on the first day. Most policyholders and retail investors, who took up nearly 30% of the total shares on offer, are not yet in a position to trade their shares freely unless they already have an established relationship with a broker, but the as yet unidentified institutional investors who took the remainder of the shares will dictate the day’s direction. It is expected that institutions and foreign buyers will be waiting to snap up any shares that are offloaded by individuals.
The JSE, meanwhile, has prepared itself for a high volume of trade on Monday, with testing of a new upgrade to the JET electronic trading system having been completed on Friday.
29