Hammerson has raised £189 million (c.10% of its exiting issue share capital) to part fund the proposed acquisition of a 50% stake in Manchester Arndale shopping centre. Hammerson will pay £218 million for the centre’s acquisition. A total of 52,098,942 shares were placed at a price of 355 pence (R78.81) per placing share, representing a discount of 3.8% to the closing price on 29 July 2026. The equity raise was achieved via a non-pre-emptive placing to institutional investors, a retail offer and a subscription of new shares by certain directors of the company.
Europa Metals aims to raise A$4 million through the issue of ordinary shares at an issue price of A$0.20 per share with one attaching option (with an exercise price of A$0.30 expiring three years from issue) for every 4 shares issued. The capital raise will be used to fund the company’s proposed acquisition of Antimony Ventures Europe, announced in June 2026.
Novus has acquired an additional 34 Mustek shares at an average R15.00 per share on the open market (outside of the Mandatory Offer) for R510. The company now holds 29,16 million Mustek shares constituting 50.68% of the issued shares in Mustek. Together with concert parties this shareholding increases to c.70.97%.
Acsion shareholders have the option to receive a script alternative in lieu of the cash dividend of 24 cents per share announced by the company in terms of the annual financial results for the year ended 28 February 2026.
With conditions of the proposed reverse takeover of Kibo Energy not being satisfied, the company this week cancelled its trading on AIM. Kibo is engaging with the JSE in respect of its listing on the exchange, the outcome of which will be communicated to shareholders in due course.
This week the following companies announced the repurchase of shares:
Reinet Investments has completed the share buyback programme announced in June. The company intends to purchase its ordinary shares at market value for an aggregate maximum amount of €500 million subject to a maximum of 16.5 million ordinary shares over a period up to the 2027 Annual General Meeting of the Company. The implementation will be through several successive and separate programmes and shares will not be cancelled. This week Reinet acquired 877,546 shares on the JSE for an aggregate R389 million.
To reduce the share capital of the company and return capital to shareholders, Quilter commenced, in March 2026, a £100 million share buyback programme. The maximum aggregate purchase price payable by the company under Tranche 2 is up to C.£30 million. During the period 20 to 24 July 2026, Quilter repurchased 75,000 shares on the LSE with an aggregate value of £148,492 and 15,000 shares on the JSE with an aggregate value of R656,817.
In June, Greencoat Renewables announced its intention to commence a second tranche of the repurchase programme which will return a further €25 million of capital to shareholders, following the completion of the first tranche which is expected during July. The second tranche repurchase will be complete by end-December 2026. This week 1,503,735 shares were repurchased for an aggregate €1,18 million.
Bytes Technology announced in May 2026 its intention to implement a new share repurchase programme to purchase the company’s shares for an aggregate value of up to £25,0 million. This week the company repurchased 250,000 shares at an average price per share of £4.18 for an aggregate £1,05 million.
British American Tobacco has again extended its share buyback to end on 12 October 2026. All shares repurchased will be cancelled. Over the period 20 to 24 July 2026, the company repurchased a further 635,993 shares at an average price of £45.98 per share for an aggregate £29,25 million.
Ninety One plc announced an increase in the repurchase programme from £30 million to £55 million to be completed in July 2026. The shares, to be purchased on the open market, will be cancelled to reduce the Company’s ordinary share capital. This week the company repurchased a further 562,869 ordinary shares at an average price 215 pence for an aggregate £1,21 million.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s US$6 billion share buy-back programme continues. The shares acquired will be kept as treasury shares to fulfil future share delivery commitments under the group’s stock ownership plans. During the period 20 to 24 July 2026, the group repurchased 531,748 shares for €38,06 million.
During the period 20 to 24 July 2026, Prosus repurchased a further 2,187,722 Prosus shares for an aggregate €82,76 million and Naspers, a further 986,509 Naspers shares for a total consideration of R803,74 million.
Two companies issued a profit warning this week: Mpact and ArcelorMittal South Africa.
One company withdrew a cautionary notice: Mantengu.
DealMakers is SA’s M&A publication.
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