{"id":880173,"date":"2026-10-16T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=880173"},"modified":"2026-10-16T12:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T10:11:08","slug":"two-major-south-african-companies-sold-in-less-than-a-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/880173\/two-major-south-african-companies-sold-in-less-than-a-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Two major South African companies sold in less than a month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two of South Africa\u2019s major JSE-listed companies have become takeover targets in less than a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This highlights how low share prices are making local businesses increasingly attractive to foreign investors and their existing controlling shareholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to Piet Viljoen of Merchant West Investments. Viljoen is one of South Africa\u2019s most prominent and respected deep-value investors, with over three decades of experience in the asset management industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with BizNews<\/a>, he said the proposed buyouts of Santam by its majority shareholder, Sanlam, and Omnia by India\u2019s Solar Industries, reflected a broader trend of South African companies being acquired or delisted because their assets were undervalued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the same trend was playing out among smaller and medium-sized listed businesses, with private equity investors also taking advantage of depressed share prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a trend that continues, and it\u2019s happening because assets are underpriced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanlam has controlled Santam for about 62 years, but is now moving to acquire the remaining shares in the insurance company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viljoen said the transaction made sense because Sanlam could acquire a high-quality business at a relatively attractive valuation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He estimated that Santam was trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of around 12 or 13, while Sanlam planned to use its existing cash rather than issue new shares to finance the transaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you get many opportunities to pay such a low price for such a high-quality business, which Santam is,\u201d Viljoen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described the proposed acquisition as an opportunistic move that took advantage of the subdued mood in the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he believes the offer is reasonable in the current environment, he said it undervalues Santam over a longer investment horizon. \u201cOn a 10-year view, I think it\u2019s undervaluing the business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he added that institutional investors often focus on monthly, quarterly, and annual performance rather than holding investments for a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGiven the current market environment, you\u2019re unlikely to get that price soon,\u201d he said, and argued that shareholders may therefore have to consider accepting the offer despite its longer-term limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Difficult to predict when a sustained recovery in the local market would begin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Viljoen had a similar view of Solar Industries\u2019 proposed acquisition of Omnia, the South African chemicals and explosives group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described the offer as acceptable in the current circumstances, but said it was not particularly attractive for investors willing to hold the business over a much longer period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgain, it\u2019s not an expensive price, but if you take a 10-year view, I would not accept that price,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that the difficulty for South African investors was not necessarily a shortage of good businesses, but a lack of confidence in the local economy and its political leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has created opportunities for offshore investors to acquire established companies at prices they consider attractive, while local investors increasingly direct their money towards international markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viljoen said investment bankers were also likely to be marketing South African businesses to foreign buyers because local valuations were so low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe South African companies are attractive acquisition targets for offshore companies because of the cheap, attractive pricing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This trend is reducing the number of companies available to investors on the JSE, with businesses increasingly being taken private or absorbed into larger groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viljoen believes the market is currently \u201cbumping along the bottom\u201d, rather than approaching a definitive low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he added that periods of widespread delistings could create opportunities for long-term investors because acquiring shareholders often have a better understanding of a business\u2019s value and are willing to buy when prices are depressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen companies are going private, they\u2019re being bought off the market by the insiders who know the business well. They know they\u2019re buying the business at a reasonable or cheap price.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viljoen added that South Africa still has well-managed companies, strong entrepreneurs and businesses capable of generating attractive returns despite the difficult economic environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed to companies such as Capitec and Shoprite as examples of businesses that had developed into major successes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He expects the delisting trend to continue until valuations improve and investor confidence returns, although he said it was difficult to predict when a sustained recovery in the local market would begin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two of South Africa\u2019s major JSE-listed companies have become takeover targets in less than a month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":802063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2111079981308694920","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2239125063574559","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17942013903365461","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6283,2880,853],"class_list":["post-880173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-omnia","tag-sanlam","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880173","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":880179,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880173\/revisions\/880179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}