Grit’s shares shoot up on decision to delist from JSE

GRIT REAL Estate Income Fund, a Pan African real estate group, plans to delist from the JSE due to the high cost and administrative burden, but will remain listed in Mauritius and in London.

The share price shot up 23.2 percent to R15.15 yesterday afternoon.

In terms of the delisting proposal, the Botswana Development Corporation and reinsurer Zep Re have offered to buy all the shares held by shareholders on the JSE share register at R14.90 a share.

Chief executive Bronwyn Corbett said yesterday in a statement that poor trading liquidity in the shares and the complexity of being listed on three exchanges had become onerous to the point “where it no longer warrants the considerable cost and administrative burden”.

Grit’s diverse portfolio comprises dollar and euro-denominated leases with multinational tenants. Shareholders on the JSE could retain their investment in Grit by transferring their shares to the Mauritius or London Stock Exchange (LSE) share register before the delisting.

The offer is subject to a number of conditions, including, offer acceptances of less than or equal to 7 million shares, or 2.21 percent, of the total issued shares.

Shareholders who did not accept the offer, or who did not transfer their shares before delisting, would have their shareholding transferred to the Mauritius register, and would receive a new share certificate near the date of the delisting.

Corbett said the capital markets in London provided a deeper and broader pool of capital and access to a higher number of institutional investors. A total of 110 African-listed companies with a combined market capitalisation of $173 billion (R2.95bn), were listed on the LSE. “We will, however, retain the listing on the SEM in Mauritius, an investment grade country,” she said.

The delisting paved the way for Grit to move trading in its shares up to the premium listing segment of the main market of the LSE, which was expected to help the group be included in the main FTSE UK Index series, which was expected to further improve liquidity in the company’s shares and further diversify Grit’s shareholder base. Grit shares closed 15.45 percent higher at R14.20 on the JSE yesterday.