Daily Mail

Glencore loses £2.5bn on Africa bribery claim

- by Holly Black

More than £2.5bn was wiped off the value of Glencore yesterday amid reports it faces a bribery probe by the Serious Fraud office.

Shares in the commoditie­s giant fell 4.4pc, or 17.5p, to 380.35p.

The SFO is believed to be looking into Glencore’s ties to Israeli billionair­e Dan Gertler in Democratic republic of Congo. Gertler, who once owned stakes in two of Glencore’s projects in DRC, was sanctioned by the US last year for ‘opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals’ in the country.

Glencore and the SFO declined to comment. The share slump came as the

FTSE 100 eased off from its alltime high to finish the day down 0.12pc, or 9.18 points, at 7778.79.

Troubled Carpetrigh­t has turned to shareholde­rs in a bid to raise £60m. It has been little over a month since the struggling retailer revealed it would shut 92 of its stores and axe 300 jobs as it battles to stay alive.

Shares in the group, which has 2,700 staff and 409 UK shops, are down an eye-watering 76pc since the start of the year. Carpetrigh­t will use 10pc of the money it raises to cover additional costs involved with its CVA, £12.5m to repay a short-term unsecured loan and £33m to fund its spending plans.

Chief executive Wilf Walsh said the placing would provide the cash needed to refurbish and modernise its stores and upgrade its digital platform.

There was a scramble for shares yesterday, which should serve as evidence that investors believe the placing will help Carpetrigh­t execute its turnaround.

Certainly that must be the case for any newbie buyers, as only those who owned shares prior to the market close on Thursday are eligible for the new tranche. Shareholde­rs are being offered 88 shares for every 27 existing shares they hold, which will be issued at 28p each – a chunky 15.8pc discount from their closing price on Thursday.

Walsh was delighted at the strong demand for the shares, but investors may not feel they are in much of a position to say no.

Carpetrigh­t’s market cap is £23.6m – it means the issue of 232m shares would dilute the stake of an existing investor who chose not to participat­e in the issue by more than 75pc.

A shareholde­r who had a 1pc stake in the business will see that stake drop to 0.235pc if they do not participat­e, according to analysis by Hargreaves Lansdown.

And Paul Hickman, analyst at edison Investment research, said: ‘This does look like a serious and comprehens­ive effort to lift Carpetrigh­t out of the cycle of decline that has hit other legacy retailers.’ Shares soared 11.3pc, or 3.75p, to 37p. Live Company Group is expanding into South Korea. The events business runs Brick Live exhibition­s of popular brick-building toy Lego across the world.

Next month the group will launch a Brick Live Kids’ Cafe in Seoul, displaying Lego animals and attraction­s such as a brick pit, race tracks and interactiv­e graffiti wall.

The company also plans to launch 100 such cafes across China by 2022. Shares leapt 5.2pc, or 2p, to 40.5p.

The biggest shareholde­r in retirement firm Just Group has sold its 18pc stake for £237m.

Private equity firm Permira offloaded its stock for 143p per share – 5pc below market prices.

Analysts said the disposal is good for investors as it means more shares are freely changing hands on the market.

earlier this week, Just unveiled a 41pc rise in business in the first three months of 2018 and hailed it as a strong start to the year.

Shares in the group dipped 2.2pc, or 3.3p, to 147.1p.

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