German company becomes M&R’s largest shareholder

MURRAY & Roberts (M&R) announced yesterday that Germany’s ATM Holding had acquired a 25 percent shareholding in the engineering and construction group.

ATM, which is now the largest shareholder, is owned by private investment holding company Aton, which invests in the mining, engineering, aviation and health technology sectors, M&R said. M&R said it would now engage with Aton regarding its intentions.

“We don’t know what their intentions are at this stage – all we know is that they own 25 percent of the company,” M&R head of investment Ed Jardim said.

Aton had previously acquired a 4.49 percent share in M&R in 2015 and now holds about 25.5 percent of M&R’s total ordinary share capital.

Coronation Fund Managers sold its 15 percent stake last week. Shares in the construction firm jumped to a near six-month high, although the company said that it was not aware of what had caused the rise in its stock.

Major shareholders Allan Gray and Sanlam Investment Management had also reduced their interest in the construction company on Tuesday.

Aton had previously held discussions between September 2015 and April 2016 with M&R regarding a potential merger of its mining contracting subsidiary, JS Redpath Holding, with M&R’s underground mining business, but an agreement could not be reached on the the deal’s structure and value.

Shares in M&R closed 0.07 percent down at R15 on the JSE yesterday. Shares in rival construction company Group Five fell 2.59 percent after it said its chief executive would leave as it reported its first sixmonth loss in 11 years.