Listed retailer Woolworths Holdings plans to repurchase R1-billion of its own shares using the proceeds from a securitisation of its in-store card book, the company revealed on Monday.
The move could possibly be in preparation for a future black economic empowerment deal involving the sale of the repurchased shares to new black equity partners, market watchers said.
Woolworths’ shares jumped 3,3% or 34 cents on the news, last quoted at R10,64 on the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) from R10,30 at Friday’s close.
With its share price at R10,64, Woolworths’ market capitalisation stands at R10,12-billion, so the buyback will involve just less than 10% of the group’s total market capitalisation.
Woolworths said it plans to implement the share buyback via a pro-rata offer to shareholders. It expects to acquire from each shareholders (excluding wholly owned subsidiary E-Com Investments) between 8% and 13% of its total Woolworths shareholding.
The final repurchase price and ratio will be based on the five-day volume weighted average Woolworths share price on the day before the detailed terms announcement was published, the group said.
For example, a repurchase price of R10 per share will result in a repurchase ratio of 11,5 Woolworths shares per 100 shares held. In total, the company will acquire shares for a total cash consideration of R1-billion, with the shares being cancelled and restored to the status of authorised but unissued.
The scheme is conditional on the requisite regulatory and shareholder approvals. However, the company said, it has already obtained written confirmation for support for the deal from shareholders with 71,53% of the Woolworths shares in issue.
The FTSE/JSE General Retailers Index (J052) was so far up 0,67% in early trade on Monday, at 18 607,26. — I-Net Bridge