An update on Anglo American’s group simplification (JSE: AGL)

They needed to publish this update under UK Takeover laws,

Anglo American released an announcement that covers the progress across various group projects. They needed to release this announcement for compliance reasons, but it’s also just a helpful reminder to shareholders of what the group has been doing.

In nickel, Anglo American is working on the final remaining regulatory approval (the European Commission) for the disposal of the business to MMG Singapore Resources for up to $500 million.

In platinum, the demerger of Valterra Platinum (JSE: VAL) is behind them and Anglo exited that entire investment a few months ago. If you want a particular commodity to do really well, just get Anglo American to unbundle it! We saw it with Thungela (JSE: TGA) and now we’ve seen it with platinum. Anglo raised cash proceeds of R44.1 billion from the Valterra sale.

In steelmaking coal, you may recall that they sold the 33.3% interest in Jellinbah Group for around $1 billion. In November 2024 (more than a year ago), they announced the sale of the remaining steelmaking coal business to Peabody Energy for up to $3.775 billion. The deal with Peabody eventually fell through as Peabody walked away from the deal, so Anglo is now on the hunt for a buyer.

They are also looking for a buyer for De Beers, although that feels like a tough business to sell at the moment. You’ll struggle to find a diamond bull out there after the disruption caused by lab-grown diamonds.

And finally, in crop nutrients, they are taking a focused approach with their planned capex spend for 2025 of $0.3 billion. Completion of a full feasibility study is the major milestone that they are chasing.

They’ve certainly had a busy time, particularly as this update excludes anything to do with the merger with Teck Resources!

DRDGOLD crystallises a solar investment (JSE: DRD)

They get to unlock the cash and lock in the long-term supply

DRDGOLD announced the disposal of 100% in Stellar Energy Solutions to NOA Group Assets for R147.5 million. The deal is about to close, with an implementation date of 23 December.

The Stellar project has been underway since 2023, with most of the licences and approvals now in place for the development of a 150MWh solar power plant in Polokwane. The project is therefore “shovel-ready” as they say in this sector. In addition, during 2025, DRDGOLD commissioned a 60MWh solar plant and 160MWh battery energy storage system at the ERGO operations in Gauteng, meeting roughly half of ERGO’s total power needs.

Aside from unlocking cash through the disposal, DRDGOLD has also secured a renewable energy deal with the purchaser of the assets to procure 76GWh per annum in renewable energy, with supply commencing in January 2028.

HEPS is over 4x higher at Labat Africa (JSE: LAB)

This small cap was one of the big surprises of 2025

Labat Africa is busy shaking off its image as a cannabis stock. These days, the company is focused on the IT sector, having made some acquisitions and taken steps to offload the legacy assets. The company is nothing like it used to be, with the trading statement for the six months to November providing further evidence of this.

HEPS is a whopping 4.4x higher, coming in at 5.68 cents vs. 1.29 cents in the prior period. The NAV per share is now 25.13 cents.

And the share price? 7 cents. Just 7 cents! Those who enjoy small caps may want to do some further digging here. Sadly, when I tried to access the website, it wasn’t working. It might do wonders for the valuation multiple if they sort that out sooner rather than later.

WeBuyCars to acquire 49% in GoBid for R377 million (JSE: WBC)

This is a vertical integration play with a pathway to control

WeBuyCars took a nasty knock in the share price recently as the market reacted to a weaker-than-expected year for the company. They’ve been facing an environment of extensive disruption in the automotive sector. The share price has partially recovered since the major sell-off and is still 11% up year-to-date.

The company has now announced the acquisition of 49% in GoBid for R377 million, with put and call options that give them a pathway to control in the future. More on that to come.

Before we get to the deal specifics, we need to discuss what they are actually buying! GoBid is a digital auction platform that focuses on accident-damaged vehicles, cars that aren’t worth repairing and general second-hand vehicles. WeBuyCars currently uses GoBid for the disposal of non-runners, write-offs, salvage vehicles and those that aren’t fit for sale. This is therefore a vertical integration play in which WeBuyCars wants more exposure to the full value chain.

WeBuyCars describes it as a strategy to service the “entire South African vehicle market by acquiring vehicles across all categories and in any condition.”

Back to the deal structure. The call option unfortunately only locks in a stake of up to 51%, with the incremental 2% coming at a price of R15.7 million. It is exercisable during a window period between 6 months and 12 months after the effective date. Although there’s some flexibility here for WeBuyCars, in reality I can’t see a world in which they wouldn’t step over the 50% mark and control the company. You would never buy 49% and stop there.

There are also put and call options related to GoBid undertaking share repurchases based on the profit achieved in 2028 and a P/E multiple of 8x.

Speaking of multiples, WeBuyCars is paying a P/E of 7.8x based on the profits attributable to the 49% holding. The group is trading on a much higher P/E than this, so the deal should be seen as good news for shareholders.

Here’s where it gets interesting: the seller of 40% in GoBid is none other than Taximart, part of the very broken SA Taxi stable. The other 9% comes from various sellers including Fledge Capital.

This is a Category 2 transaction, so no shareholder vote will be required,

Nibbles:

• Director dealings:
  • An associate of a director of Rex Trueform (JSE: RTN) bought N ordinary shares worth just over R20 million.
  • A senior executive of Mondi (JSE: MNP) exercised shares options and sold the whole lot to the value of R2.8 million.
  • A director of a major subsidiary of ADvTECH (JSE: ADH) and that director’s spouse sold shares worth a total of R1.3 million.
  • The CEO of Spear REIT (JSE: SEA) bought shares for himself and his family worth R36k.
  • A director of a major subsidiary of Stefanutti Stocks (JSE: SSK) bought shares worth R10k.

• Numeral (JSE: XII) is undertaking a 10-to-1 share consolidation and then a private placement of shares for up to R100 million. That’s a big number! Roughly R34.5 million is underwritten by an existing shareholder. With the market cap currently at R12.4 million, this is clearly a huge step forward for the company – and highly dilutive to current shareholders.

• In theory at least, Shuka Minerals (JSE: SKA) is on track to receive the balance of funds from Gathoni Muchai Investments for the acquisition of Leopard Exploration and Mining. I’ll fully believe it when the money is in the bank before the end of December, as there have been many delays and concerning updates around the flow of cash required to complete the deal.

• As part of the structuring around the GEM share subscription facility, Mantengu (JSE: MTU) announced the issuance of R3.3 million in shares to an associate of the CEO to make the associate whole. There’s no effective change to the shareholding.

• Barloworld (JSE: BAW) is one of the few remaining examples of companies with listed preference shares on the JSE. There’s almost no liquidity in these shares, as only institutional holders tend to participate. There are only 39 shareholders recorded in the register! With Barloworld’s delisting expected to be concluded by the end of January 2026, the company is also looking to redeem and delist the preference shares. At R2.50 per share plus some interest, this is a cash outflow of less than R1 million to redeem all the shares.

• Sebata Holdings (JSE: SEB) is currently suspended from trading due to failure to publish financial results. This is mostly due to the complexities in the accounting treatment of the Inzalo transactions that fell through. They need to release the results for the year ended March 2025 as well as the interims for the six months to September 2025. They hope to get both out the door by the end of January 2026, which would then lead to the lifting of the suspension.