The battle for Astoria goes on

RECM AND CALIBRE: WANT TO PICK A NEW DIRECTOR

Swooped in hostile takeover attempt in March but has been stymied by lawsuit.

an offer to shareholders for their shares – or a portion of them.

This was blocked by Astoria, which instituted legal proceedings against RAC and its subsidiary, Livingstone Investments, on the basis that the offer was in breach of the Securities Act and Takeover Regulations, among other transgressions.

“We would like to make an offer to shareholders – it is their prerogative to say yes or no. But there is a pending court case that we need to get through to make the offer,” says Jan van Niekerk, a director of RAC.

RAC proposed a new director of their choice be appointed to the board.

“The easiest thing would have been for Astoria to accept our nomination, but this is also being dragged out,” he says.

Fair request

“I think it’s a fair request [to have a director on the board],” says Peter Armitage, chief executive of Anchor and a non-executive director of Astoria. “My sense is that the board, as a result of the hostile takeover attempt and litigation, has decided to put this to shareholders.”

The Astoria board is currently considering options to unlock the value for shareholders.

This could be in the form of a special dividend.

“We feel this process is also being dragged out and would like to provide some input,” says Van Niekerk.

Armitage is sanguine on that point, too. “At the end of the day, shareholders want the same thing – to unlock value. The question is, how? It is recognised that all investment holding companies are trading at a substantial discount to their NAV.”

At the end of September, 73.7% of the group’s funds were invested in listed global equities (7.9% in niche funds and private equity, 1.8% in fixed income and 16.6% in USD cash).

Its top-10 direct listed equity positions include Apple, Kingswood Holdings, The Blackstone Group, Facebook, EPP NV, Admiral Group plc, Mastercard, Home Depot, Nike and JP Morgan Chase.

Further details of the meeting will be released by Astoria in due course.

Shareholders want to unlock value