JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South African consumer goods company Premier Group on Friday shelved its plans to list on the stock market, just weeks after announcing its intention to list on the Johannesburg exchange, citing weak capital market conditions in the country.
The maker of Blue Ribbon bread, Snowflake wheat flour and Lil-lets sanitary pads had received a significant amount of investor interest and support for the business ahead of its listing on Dec. 8, said Brait Plc, the investment group that owns Premier.
“However, the South African capital markets, in particular over the last 48 hours, have not been conducive to supporting a successful IPO (initial public offering),” Brait said.
“Therefore, the Premier board and shareholders have resolved not to proceed with the offer at this time.”
By 1347 shares in Brait were 7.42% weaker at 3.87 rand, compared with a 2.12% decline in the Johannesburg All-Share index.
South African financial, currency and bond markets fell sharply on Thursday as investors digested news that President Cyril Ramaphosa may be impeached following a panel of experts’ findings against him.
As noted in the pre-listing statement, in the event of the listing not proceeding, investment firm Titan and Rand Merchant Bank have agreed to buy unlisted shares in Premier from Brait for 3.5 billion rand ($200.65 million) by way of a private sale of shares, Brait said.
($1 = 17.4434 rand)
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla in Johannesburg and Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Louise Heavens)
