{"id":840947,"date":"2025-10-24T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=840947"},"modified":"2025-10-24T15:00:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:00:54","slug":"end-of-an-era-for-135-year-old-company-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/840947\/end-of-an-era-for-135-year-old-company-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"End of an era for 135-year-old company in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Adcock Ingram will delist from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on 11 November 2025, with India’s Natco Pharma acquiring all the minority shares of the 135-year-old company.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company\u2019s story dates back to 1890, when it started as a small pharmacy in Krugersdorp, Gauteng.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company grew to become one of South Africa\u2019s leading pharmaceutical companies, with a range of prescription, over-the-counter (OTC), consumer and hospital products, valued at R12 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its brands include Myprodol, Panado, Allergex, Epi-Max, Corenza, Gen-Payne and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company was first listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1950, ten years after opening its first Pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 50 years of trading, the group\u2019s majority shareholder, Tiger Brands, acquired all the minority shares of the company in 2000.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company then became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tiger Brands and was delisted from the JSE.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in 2008, the company was unbundled from Tiger Brands and was relisted on the JSE under the code AIP.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next decade, Adcock Ingram was reorganised into four autonomous business units, while it also acquired Genop, which owned the Epi Max brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, the group\u2019s ownership structure saw another significant change, with Bidvest acquiring about 65% of the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company had attempted for years to take full control of the company, but settled on the majority share as it could still influence Adcock and align their businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly thereafter, Adcock Ingram acquired Plush Professional Leather Care as it looked to less-regulated product lines.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also opened its second manufacturing facility in Bangalore, India, in 2023, 16 years after opening the original. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New owners arrive <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Bidvest will remain the majority owner of Adcock Ingram<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

However, Adcock now faces its second exit from the JSE and a new era with Indian group Natco Pharma <\/a>set to take over the minority shares that are not already owned by Bidvest.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natco Pharma specialises in research, development, manufacturing, and marketing pharmaceutical products, and has a market cap of around\u00a0R30 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, Natco Pharma offered R75 per share to buy out Adcock Ingram\u2019s minority shareholders, which reached a value around R4 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move received approval from shareholders in September, with Adcock Ingram announcing on Friday, 24 October, that the offer is now unconditional.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adcock Ingram will thus proceed with the sale implementation, with shareholders having until 4 November 2025 to participate in the offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adcock Ingram\u2019s shares on the JSE will cease to be traded on the JSE from 10 November 2025, with delisting occurring the next day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The offer led to a massive rise in the group\u2019s share price to around R74. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anchor Capital Equity Analyst Sean Culverwell previously noted that the deal would end Adcock\u2019s long spell in \u201cminority purgatory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Bidvest took control of Adcock Ingram in 2019, the company\u2019s free float diminished and liquidity dried up. This made delisting for the second time feel inevitable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bidvest prioritises capital to scale its offshore services platform, with Bidcorp potentially unbundled from the group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgainst that backdrop, Natco\u2019s move and Bidvest\u2019s choice to hold both make sense to us,\u201d Culverwell added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis decision underscores Bidvest\u2019s confidence in Adcock\u2019s defensive earnings and domestic diversification, which still suit Bidvest\u2019s local portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adcock Ingram will delist from the JSE for the second time in 25 years, with Natco Pharma acquiring all minority shares. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":840948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[13311,11827,4473,11629],"class_list":["post-840947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-adcock-ingram","tag-anchor-capital","tag-bidvest","tag-tiger-brands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840947"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840962,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840947\/revisions\/840962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}