Wanna get a piece of Sabvest? Well, you soon can

Tightly-held investment counter Sabvest – which is difficult to trade at the best of times – should soon be able to alleviate its troublesome share liquidity issue.
Sabvest confirmed on Wednesday that two “longstanding, passive, offshore shareholders” intend offering their low-voting “N” shares for sale to qualifying investors through a book-build placement.The sellers Valderoma Investments SA and Caraway Group – which are understood to be linked to mercurial investor Ronnie Price – intend to sell up to 16.65-million “N” shares. This represents a chunky 58.8% of Sabvest’s total issued “N” ordinary issued shares, and 8% of the group’s total issued share capital.
Interestingly, these shares will be offered at R34.60 a share (exclusive of the interim dividend of 32c a share) – a price that is well below Sabvest’s last stated net asset value (NAV) of around R54.58 a share.
Understandably, the offer is expected to remain open for an extended period in order to accommodate private client investors and will only close on August 15.
The share allocation will be at the discretion of the seller(s) – and it will be interesting to gauge any institutional or boutique asset management interest.
Gut feel is that the “N”-share control structure at Sabvest – where the Seabrooke family remain the controlling shareholders – might have to be dismantled before institutions bite.
But the shares should be easily placed, and hopefully Sabvest’s discount to NAV narrows markedly with the free float increasing to a more compelling 64.5%.