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Ninety One and Sanlam agree to active asset management tie-up in R5bn share deal



Ninety One has agreed to buy Sanlam Investment Management (SIM) in a deal that will see SA's largest insurer Sanlam group owning 12.3% of the fund manager spun out of Investec in 2020.

The deal, which was announced on Wednesday alongside Ninety One's interim results, will also see Sanlam appoint the firm as its primary active investment manager for single-managed local and global products. The proposed deal will see Ninety One acquire all the issued shares in SIM, the active investment management business wholly owned by Sanlam Investment Holdings, in which Sanlam holds an effective 65.6% stake. Ninety One will issue new shares for the transaction but will remain an independent investment manager with staff as its largest shareholder.

Sanlam CEO Paul Hanratty said on a media call on Wednesday that the value of the proposed deal was close to R5 billion, based on the 12.3% stake in Ninety One through a combination of both its local and London-listed shares.

-FIN24



Momentum sees signs of early economic recovery for SA, boost to its business



Insurance and investment group Momentum said on Wednesday that most of its business units continued to deliver encouraging earnings results in its first quarter, when it saw signs of an improved environment boosting its businesses a little. Group sales, as measured by the present value of new business premiums (PVNBP), increased by 5% to about R20.6 billion in the three-month period to end September, it said in an operational update. This was supported by continued growth in life annuities new business volumes from Momentum Investments while Africa's PVNBP improved 25% thanks to good retail sales growth in Namibia and Botswana and higher corporate sales in Lesotho. "Our operating environment continues to face pressure from weak economic growth and an increasingly competitive landscape," Momentum said.

-FIN24



South Africa's Tiger Brands to sell Baby Wellbeing business



South Africa's biggest food producer said on Wednesday it will sell its Baby Wellbeing business including Elizabeth Anne’s toiletries for 605 million rand ($33.37 million).

The group did not disclose the buyer.-REUTERS



Lucky Star owner Oceana denies link to counterfeit pilchards after raid, arrests



Lucky Star has distanced itself from a consignment of counterfeit canned pilchards seized during a raid last week, owner Oceana said in a statement on Tuesday.

This comes after police made several arrests and seized printing equipment at a facility in Johannesburg last Monday.

Retailer Woolworths launched its own probe into a counterfeit operation involving canned pilchards, it said on Saturday. Authorities found a large quantity of unlabelled pilchards that were being branded "Lucky Star" and packed in Woolworths-labelled cartons, News24 previously reported.

A case of contravention of the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act; contravention of the Immigration Act; and possession of suspected stolen property was opened.

On Tuesday morning, Oceana said it had "categorically confirmed" the pilchards were not its own product.

"The labels are counterfeit, and we do not use ring-pull lids on our canned pilchards," it said. Oceana's statement largely tallied with Woolworths' version of events, which was that the pilchards appeared to have originated from a rejected consignment.

"So far, investigations have established that an international manufacturer produced the canned pilchards under the Woolworths brand. The retailer imported and received them, but later rejected the consignment and asked the supplier to collect it.

-FIN24



South Africa is significantly reworking long-term power plan, officials say



An reworked version of South Africa's long-term power plan will soon be presented to cabinet, designed to help draw a line under the electricity blackouts that have crippled the country for a decade, officials said on Wednesday.

The last plan, which mapped out potential power supply scenarios up to 2050, was only released in January. It made provision for a broad range of power sources including natural gas, nuclear and renewables alongside coal, currently the dominant power source.

Energy officials told a news conference the so-called Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) needed to reflect new data, in particular the sharp improvement in state utility Eskom's performance this year. After more than a decade of regular power cuts, Eskom has not implemented blackouts since March.

"There are substantive changes from the previous IRP," said Titus Mathe, chief executive at the South African National Energy Development Institute.

Previous modelling assumed Eskom's Energy Availability Factor - a measure of its plant performance - would be around 52% and not growing much, while the new assumption was for about 60%, with scope for improvement, Mathe said.

Grid constraints on Eskom's transmission network will also be addressed in the revised plan, which will be based on one long-term projection until 2050.

Targeted consultations will start next week, and the government aims to take the revamped plan to cabinet by the end of November, Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told the same briefing.

-REUTERS



Google could be forced to sell Chrome



Top US justice department antitrust officials have decided to ask a judge to force Google to sell off its Chrome browser in what would be a historic crackdown on one of the biggest tech companies in the world. The department will ask the judge, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolised the search market, to require measures related to artificial intelligence and its Android smartphone operating system, according to people familiar with the plans. Antitrust officials, along with states that have joined the case, also plan to recommend on Wednesday that federal judge Amit Mehta impose data licensing requirements, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter.

If Mehta accepts the proposals, they have the potential to reshape the online search market and the burgeoning AI industry. The case was filed under the first Donald Trump administration and continued under President Joe Biden. It marks the most aggressive effort to rein in a technology company since Washington unsuccessfully sought to break up Microsoft two decades ago

-TECHCENTRAL