Redditers turn attention to silver
SINGAPORE: Silver prices surged to a fivemonth high yesterday, silvermining stocks leapt and coinselling websites were swamped as smalltime investors piled in to the metal, the latest focus of a retailtrading frenzy that has set financial markets on edge.
Organised in online forums, the phenomenon has driven a 1500% rally in shares of videogame retailer GameStop as the crowd targets assets big fund managers have bet against.
Since last week, thousands of Reddit posts and hundreds of YouTube videos have urged small investors to buy silver.
Spot silver leapt to $30.03 an ounce early yesterday, taking gains to about 19% since last Thursday and the price to its highest since mid August.
Silvertracking exchangetraded funds in Japan and Australia also jumped and small Sydneylisted miners soared, while broader markets fell. — Reuters
AUCKLAND: Trade and private equity buyers are being approached to either buy or invest in winery Villa Maria Estate.
Investment bank UBS has been mandated for the search and has a handful of interested parties, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column.
In November, Villa Maria Estate which is largely owned by Sir George Fistonich, announced it was selling 31ha around its Auckland headquarters and exploring raising capital to accelerate its global growth strategy and ambitions.
But a sale of the entire business would be a step up from that.
The AFR reported that potential buyers believe it could be worth more than $A200 million ($NZ213 million), although binding bids were still a while away.
A spokeswoman for Villa Maria said it had nothing further to add from what it had announced already.
‘‘A process is under way and has not concluded so anything else is purely speculation.’’
Sir George, who founded the wine company in 1961, stepped down as CEO in March 2018.
Trade buyers could include rival wine company NZXlisted Delegat and privately owned Indevin New Zealand, which has wineries in Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay.
Some Australian private equity players are also said to have taken part in the process.
In November, Village Maria Estate chief executive Justin Liddell said it was selling the land in Mangere because the land value had increased to a point where it was not possible to generate a reasonable return on the vineyards.
‘‘We’re exploring selling 31ha of vineyard and bare land surrounding our headquarters at Mangere. We will continue to operate our Auckland winery, bottling, warehousing, head office and hospitality functions on the remaining 10 hectares.’’
Mr Liddell also said at the time Villa Maria was exploring raising capital from interested parties who wanted to support its growth plans and it did not expect any decision to be made until the end of March.
Villa Maria brands include Villa Maria, Esk Valley, Leftfield, Vidal and Thornbury.
It was recently awarded 39 gold medals across the group portfolio at the New Zealand International Wine Show. — The New Zealand Herald