The largest deal, by value, during the period is the disposal of Aspen Pharmacare to Mylan Ireland of its commercialisation rights relating to the thrombosis business in Europe, valued at R12,69bn. The largest BEE deal, AB InBev’s SAB Zenele Kabili scheme, the shares of which are yet to list, is valued at R5,4bn. On the general corporate finance side, corporate restructurings and unbundling of assets took centre stage, with PSG of Capitec Bank and RMB Holdings of its stake in FirstRand. Although there were 11 listings recorded, all but two of these were on alternative exchanges, and most of which were secondary listings on A2X, with only Ninety One Ltd and Ninety One Plc listing on the main bourse – a far cry from the 23 new listings recorded in 2017. Little wonder then that the JSE is to approach regulators about listing instruments across a range of currencies, in a bid to make the exchange more investment-friendly and attractive to multi-nationals.    

The table below shows deal activity by SA listed companies, excluding that of foreign firms with dual listings, unless the target is South African. The analysis of data for the first nine months of this year, versus that of the previous three years, shows a steady decline in activity and a sharp drop this year, as a result of the hard lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As lockdown eases, there are renewed signs that deal activity is coming back to life again, albeit a fragile recovery. While it will take quite some time to regain ground lost as a result of the pandemic, there are deals in the pipeline as companies take advantage of opportunities presented. However, these deals are highly industry and deal specific and a successful close in this current environment will depend on the ability to agree on the value, assisted by innovative structuring, access to funding and the ability to navigate through regulatory hurdles.