NOW TERRY MOOLMAN might be the veteran wily fox of South Africa’s media industry, but did Moneyweb boss and editor-in-chief Alec Hogg know what he was doing when Caxton came in as a major shareholder? Moolman isn’t the devil of the industry but we hope Hogg is supping with a long spoon.
Minority shareholders weren’t enamoured with Caxton’s mandatory offer to minority shareholders for voting pool shares outside those already owned. And why should they have been? The offer (which closed last Friday) was for 68c/share against last week’s price of 100c/share. Only 127 317 ordinary shares were bought – 0,26% of Moneyweb’s ordinary share capital. But Caxton also went along and bought additional shares outside the offer, raising the voting pool’s holding in Moneyweb to 68,5%.
Is this a quiet takeover of Moneyweb, the share capital of which Hogg has always jealously guarded? Probably not: the voting pool will be committed to the best interests of Moneyweb. And for Moolman – the small newspaper print media specialist – Moneyweb is a convenient way to gain access to a good Internet site.
Maybe times have changed, but this writer visited Moolman a number of years ago to discover he didn’t keep a computer on the desk in his office. But he did have a huge pile of newspapers.
Minority shareholders weren’t enamoured with Caxton’s mandatory offer to minority shareholders for voting pool shares outside those already owned. And why should they have been? The offer (which closed last Friday) was for 68c/share against last week’s price of 100c/share. Only 127 317 ordinary shares were bought – 0,26% of Moneyweb’s ordinary share capital. But Caxton also went along and bought additional shares outside the offer, raising the voting pool’s holding in Moneyweb to 68,5%.
Is this a quiet takeover of Moneyweb, the share capital of which Hogg has always jealously guarded? Probably not: the voting pool will be committed to the best interests of Moneyweb. And for Moolman – the small newspaper print media specialist – Moneyweb is a convenient way to gain access to a good Internet site.
Maybe times have changed, but this writer visited Moolman a number of years ago to discover he didn’t keep a computer on the desk in his office. But he did have a huge pile of newspapers.