Remgro, an investment conglomerate chaired and controlled by billionaire Johann Rupert, has bought more than 13-million Heineken Beverages shares in the past three months, taking its holding in the group to 18.8%.
Remgro said on Monday its stake in Heineken is up from the 15.5% it had after Heineken and Distell’s merger earlier in 2023, a move seen as increasing the scope to participate on the upside.
Heineken Beverages was created out of a multibillion-rand merger between Distell, Heineken SA and Namibian Breweries, which received the last regulatory approval in March, about 16 months after the formal proposal was put on the table.
Remgro said it acquired an additional 13,218,475 ordinary shares in the new entity in a series of transactions at R165 per share after the conclusion of the deal. The net cash cost to Remgro of the additional shares was R926m, excluding transaction costs.
Dutch brewing giant Heineken owns the majority of shares in Heineken Beverages, which will compete with established players such as SAB, which is part of the multinational brewer AB InBev.
Heineken has said the rebranding “reflects the new company’s multicategory portfolio and commitment to deliver high-quality beverages to consumers across the continent”.
Distell, which has since delisted from the JSE, owns a mix of popular brands in its portfolio, including Savanna, Hunter’s and Amarula.
Namibian Breweries leads the beer market in Namibia and has a significant share of the premium beer category in Southern Africa. Its portfolio includes a range of soft beverages, as well as low- and nonalcohol products.
The Heineken R180-a-share offer was twofold: R165 a share for most of Distell’s businesses, including its cider brands and ready-to-drink spirits, wine and Amarula brands; and R15 a share for the company’s international whisky brands, which are being housed in a separate, unlisted entity, Capevin.
Remgro’s shareholding in Capevin constitutes 31.36% of all the Capevin ordinary shares in issue.
Remgro’s interests cut across financial services, petroleum, personal care products, packaging, beverage, medical services, mining and food industries, making it one of the proxies of the SA economy.
Remgro has been reshaping its portfolio, including disposal of Grindrod Shipping, the unbundling of Grindrod, as well as the restructuring of Outsurance Group during its 2022 financial year.
Narrowing discount
The strategy includes narrowing the big discount between the value of its underlying portfolio and share price. Its net asset value per share stood at R233.86 in December.
Remgro also led a consortium that bought out Mediclinic’s minority shareholders, taking the hospital group private. Remgro CEO Jannie Durand said in March that going private gives companies better control of entities they own and brings them closer to management teams.
“Operating in the unlisted space gives us better control of the investments, and execution is easier to achieve. It allows us to be closer to the teams and have flexibility.
“It also puts more responsibility on Remgro to be more transparent, and disclosures must be better to allow the market to put value on those investments.”
The group share price ended nearly 1% higher at R150 on Tuesday, valuing the company at R78.9bn on the JSE.
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