Trading Day – Twitter pops after Elon Musk U-turn

Elon Musk revived a bid to buy Twitter at the original price of $54.20 a share, backtracking his effort to quit the deal and potentially avoid a contentious courtroom fight.

The decision boosted Twitter’s share price, which jumped 22% on the news.

Meanwhile, Massmart will likely close its East- and West-African stores after failing to secure a buyer.

Capitec’s share price jumped 5.4% after announcing that it received a life insurance license under Capitec Life.

Here is the biggest news of the day.

• Twitter shares jump 22% after Elon Musk changes course on buying decision again. Elon Musk agreed to go through with the acquisition at the original agreed price of $54.20 a share. The agreement should put an end to the months of litigation that damaged Twitter’s reputation and fed Musk’s reputation for erratic behaviour. Musk tweeted that buying Twitter would speed up his ambition to create an “everything app” called X. The banks that agreed to finance the acquisition are likely to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on the deal because they would struggle to attract investors to buy the debt, given the downturn in markets since the deal was signed.

• Massmart initiates closure consultations for East- and West-African stores after failing to secure a buyer. At the end of December last year, the company announced that it was exploring the disposal of these stores to local investors but failed to secure a meaningful offer.

• Capitec share price jumps 5.4% after announcing a life insurance license under Capitec Life. Capitec already has strong growth in the number of insured clients. The move will see the bank take on more risk and avoid giving up profits to 3rd party insurance companies.

• Anglo American signs deal for renewable energy venture. Anglo American and EDF Renewables have announced a joint venture to develop a regional renewable energy ecosystem in South Africa. The vision is to develop an ecosystem that can generate between 3 and 5 GW of renewable energy by 2030. The venture already has a 600 MW pipeline of wind and solar projects.

• Aveng secures the sale of Trident Steel for R700 million, plus an amount of R264 million for the net cash portion of the business. The buyers comprise a consortium of local and US-based private equity investors, along with the Trident management team. Aveng is going to provide R210 million in funding to the company, giving it a temporary 30% stake in the company in order to provide a  B-BBEE investor for the deal.

• Ray Dalio hands over control of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates. The move forms part of the succession plan at the firm he founded and will see him ceding his 95% voting rights in the company to his board members.

• Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) hikes the interest rate by 0.50%. Their cash rate now stands at 3.50%, New Zealand’s highest level in 7 years.