COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

SA’s energy firm to buy stake in ROMPCO

State-owned energy companies from South Africa and Mozambique have exercised their rights to buy the 30% stake in the ROMPCO natural gas pipeline that Sasol is selling, the companies said on Sunday.

Petrochemical firm Sasol said last month it was selling the stake in the ROMPCO pipeline from Mozambique to South Africa to a consortium of investors including Reatile Group for an initial amount of R4.15 billion.

But that deal was subject to pre-emptive rights on the shares held by existing shareholders iGAS, a subsidiary of South Africa's Central Energy Fund, and Companhia Mosambicana de Gasoduto (CMG), a subsidiary of Mozambique's Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos.

iGAS and CMG will now increase their stakes in ROMPCO to 40% each from their current level of 25%. Sasol, which is trying to shed assets to pay off debt, will reduce its shareholding from 50% to 20%. -Nampa/Reuters

Daimler set to spin off truck unit

German carmaker Daimler is on track to spin off Daimler Truck, the world's largest truck and bus maker, by the end of the year, its finance chief was quoted as saying on Sunday.

"We are right on schedule with the detailed preparations for this complex project and want to float Daimler Truck on the stock exchange as an independent company by the end of this year," CFO Harald Wilhelm told the Automobilwoche weekly.

"We are convinced of the industrial logic and benefits of the planned realignment of Daimler and the spin-off of Daimler Truck." A Daimler spokesperson said on Sunday the company had no further comment on the report.

The plan - announced in February - is aimed at increasing Daimler's investor appeal as a focused electric, luxury car business, as the Mercedes-Benz brand challenges Tesla Inc, Porsche, BMW and others.

LBBW analyst Frank Biller told the magazine Daimler Truck could join the German DAX index of blue-chip companies next March. -Nampa/Reuters

Nike, banks lift S&P 500 to record high

The S&P 500 hit a record high on Friday, lifted by Nike and several banks, while weaker-than-expected inflation data eased worries about a sudden tapering in stimulus by the Federal Reserve.

Nike Inc surged 15% to an all-time high after the sneaker maker forecast fiscal full-year sales ahead of Wall Street estimates, helping the Dow lead among the three main indexes.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo each jumped more than 2% after the Fed announced big banks have cleared stress test and will no longer face pandemic-related restrictions on buying back stock and paying dividends. The S&P 500 financials index rose 1.2%, the top performer among 11 sector indexes.

"Today is a bit of profit-taking in tech and a reallocation into the banks after the results of the stress tests," said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC, adding he expects banks to soon announce increased dividends.

A bipartisan Senate deal on infrastructure spending embraced by U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday continued to lift stocks, with the materials and industrials indexes up about 0.5% each, helping the S&P 500 outperform the Nasdaq.

"The positive news from the infrastructure package favors the S&P 500 more than then Nasdaq. The Nasdaq does not pour cement into roads and put steel in bridges. That's the S&P 500," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. - Nampa/Reuters

Sanofi sells portfolio to Stada

French drugmaker Sanofi said it agreed to sell 16 mainly European consumer healthcare brands to private-equity owned Stada to streamline its product portfolio.

Stada said in a statement the purchase of the brands, including Mitosyl ointment, Silomat cough remedies, Frubiase nutritional supplements, will strengthen the German company's regional sales network in Europe, following a similar deal with GlaxoSmithKline last year.

The companies would not disclose financial terms but a person familiar with the deal said the price tag was in a range of US$144 to US$168 million.

Pharmaceuticals group Sanofi has said it would prioritise fast-growing consumer healthcare (CHC) brands, as the consumer division prepares to become a standalone business.

"Simplifying the CHC product portfolio is an important part of our strategy to focus our resources and efforts where we can bring the most value," said Julie Van Ongevalle, head of Sanofi's consumer healthcare unit, said in a statement yesterday. - Nampa/Reuters

Didi orders to close IPO books

China's biggest ride-sharing firm Didi Global Inc will close the investor order books for its US initial public offering (IPO) to raise up to US$4 billion, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The people could not be identified as the information is not yet public. Didi did respond to a request for comment. The books were set close yesterday at 5pm in each region, the people said.

Didi set a price range of US$13 to US$14 per American Depositary Share (ADS), a regulatory filing showed on Thursday, and said it would offer 288 million such shares in the IPO.

At the top of the range, the deal will raise US$4.03 billion. An overallotment option could see the company sell an extra 43.2 million shares to raise up to an extra US$605 million.

At the flagged price range, Didi would be worth US$62.4 billion to US$67.2 billion. - Nampa/Reuters