Hits&Misses
Capitec bids big for Avafin; Sandton City loses bus station battle
CAPITEC is in talks to take a controlling stake in Cyprus-based online consumer lending group Avafin Holding for as much as €26.3m (R530m) as part of its strategy to grow its footprint in the e-commerce lending space. If the deal is successful, Capitec’s shareholding in Avafin will increase to 97.69% from 40%. Avafin provides online consumer loan products in countries such as Poland, Latvia, Georgia, the Czech Republic, Mexico and Denmark.
TFG has signed a deal with British sports fashion retail chain JD Sports to have access to brands such as The North Face, Pink Soda and exclusive styles in Nike, Adidas and Puma. The owner of Markham, Relay Jeans, Fabiani and Jet will also open 40 JD Sports franchised stores over the next five years, the first few by the end of this year.
COPPER developer and miner Orion Minerals said it hoped to achieve its first copper sales from its development projects in South Africa next year. Orion is developing two copper mining projects in the Northern Cape: its flagship Prieska Copper Zinc Mine and the Okiep Copper Project. Trial mining has begun at Prieska, with copper ore being stockpiled.
SANDTON City owners Liberty and Pareto have failed in their bid to stop the construction of a Rea Vaya station on the doorstep of the shopping mall. They argued the terminal would block pedestrians wanting to access the mall. They fear that after construction pedestrians using Pybus Road will not be able to walk across Rivonia Road to get to Sandton City.
SOUTH African mining production recorded a surprise decline in January — the first since September last year and the steepest decline since July, according to data published by Stats SA on Thursday. The agency said mining production fell 3.3% year on year in January compared with a downwardly revised 0.2% increase in December, confounding market forecasts of a 0.2% rise.
THE latest survey by the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) shows trade conditions remained firmly rooted in negative territory in February, near levels last seen in 2020 during Covid-19. Sacci’s trade activity index improved slightly to 31 points from 28 points in January, which was the worst level since the 25 points recorded for April 2020, as the local economy barely remains afloat.