COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Old Mutual to distribute millions in shares

South African insurer Old Mutual said on Wednesday it would distribute US$734 million in shares in lender Nedbank among its shareholders, reducing its stake in the bank to 7.2% from 19.4%.

The insurer once held a more than 50% stake in the lender, one of South Africa's big four banks, but sold off most of that in 2018 in a drive to simplify its conglomerate structure.

It said on Wednesday that while it had made sense to retain a minority stake in the bank, the Old Mutual board believed it was now in the best interests of shareholders to distribute the shares.

The 62.13 million Nedbank shares, worth around R10.4 billion (US$734 million) based on Nedbank's closing share price of R167.67, represent around 12.2% of Nedbank's issued share capital.

For every 100 Old Mutual shares they own, investors will get just under 1.32 Nedbank shares, the insurer said. Nedbank said the move would increase its proportion of shares freely tradeable on the stock market. - Nampa/Reuters

Prosus names Ervin Tu head of investments

Prosus NV, the international investment arm of South Africa's Naspers, said on Wednesday it has appointed Ervin Tu as its chief of investments in a position newly created to oversee its M&A activity.

The role to oversee M&A operations for Prosus, which invests in technology firms around the globe, will be demanding. In the past six months, the company announced more than a dozen deals, including the US$1.8 billion acquisition of Stack Overflow this month.

Tu, who had previously been a managing partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, will take over in August and report to Prosus Chief Executive Officer Bob van Dijk.

Prosus is majority-owned by Naspers, and Tu will serve at both companies as they have overlapping boards. At the Vision Fund, Tu helped lead investments in Uber and TikTok owner Bytedance, among others, Prosus said.

"I look forward to his (Tu) contributions as we accelerate growth across our consumer internet portfolio," Van Dijk said in a statement. - Nampa/Reuters

BHP to double exploration budget

BHP Group plans to almost double exploration spending for base metals within five years, its Chief Technical Officer Laura Tyler said on Wednesday, after shifting its exploration headquarters to Canada.

The world's biggest listed miner is expected to log bumper profits in August on booming prices for iron ore, but the pipeline for new projects is thin.

BHP's board is expected to make a call on its Jansen potash project in Canada as the miner looks to raise its exposure to new economy minerals including copper and nickel, seen as cornerstones of the world’s transition towards cleaner energy.

"Over the years we believe we have spent less than we should be spending on exploration," Tyler told Reuters in an interview.

Global exploration spending for base metals will nearly double within five years from the current annual US$70 million to US$80 million, she said, excluding outlays for early-entry joint ventures.

BHP in March said it would move its head office for global exploration to Toronto from Santiago, Chile. - Nampa/Reuters

BHP iron ore worker charged

Global miner BHP Group said on Wednesday that it had terminated the employment of a Western Australian worker after a rape allegation, the second case of alleged sexual assault by a BHP worker to become public this month.

Western Australian state police said on Wednesday they charged a 42-year-old man in August 2020 after he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman in Perth in July last year. The man's trial date has been listed for a Perth court in July 2022, state police said in a statement.

A BHP spokesman said in a statement the alleged incident occurred at a private residence in Perth while employees were off roster.

"We have supported the individual in reporting to police, who have subsequently laid charges against the accused. The accused was also immediately stood down and their employment subsequently terminated. We are providing on-going support to the person involved who is still employed with us,” BHP said.

Reuters was unable to contact the accused' s legal representatives for comment. State police charged a man on June over a separate alleged sexual assault by a worker at BHP's Mulla Mulla accommodation camp in November 2020. BHP said the accused was also dismissed. - Nampa/Reuters

AstraZeneca, Pfizer vaccines effective

Covid-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca and the Pfizer-BioNTech alliance remain broadly effective against Delta and Kappa variants of the Covid-19 causing virus, which were first identified in India, according to a scientific study, underpinning a continued push to deliver the shots.

The study by Oxford University researchers, published in the journal Cell, investigated the ability of antibodies in the blood from people, who were vaccinated with the two-shot regimens, to neutralize the highly contagious Delta and Kappa variants, a statement said.

"There is no evidence of widespread escape suggesting that the current generation of vaccines will provide protection against the B.1.617 lineage," the paper said, referring to the Delta and Kappa variants by a commonly used code.

However, the concentration of neutralising antibodies in the blood was somewhat reduced, which may lead to some breakthrough infections, they cautioned.

Last week, an analysis by the Public Health England (PHE) showed that vaccines made by Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca offer high protection of more than 90% against hospitalization from the Delta variant. - Nampa/Reuters