/ 12 June 2000

Fedsure shares spiked by merger rumours

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 1.15pm.

SHARES in life assurance company Fedsure spiked higher on Monday morning, largely on the back of speculation of a possible merger with Liberty Group.

By mid-morning the counter was up 4,38% at R33,40, with 91391 shares changing hands. The share price has risen by about 26% in the last 10 days – it closed at R26,50 on June 2.

Shares in Fedsure outpaced the life assurance sector and the All Share index which rose 0,67% and 0,65%.

Analysts said there is speculation that Liberty might be eyeing Fedsure. “Liberty has a fair amount of cash, which stands at R3,5-billion, and some of its directors have hinted that they were looking at Fedsure,” said one analyst.

He said the Fedsure share had also been buoyed by perceptions that the losses that preceded the rising trend were overdone.