Fate of Vodacom’s fibre network deal hangs in the balance
Will the R16 billion deal between Vodacom and fiber provider Maviz materialize successfully? Mergence’s Head of Equities, Peter Takaendesa, offers comprehensive insights to iol, highlighting various facets of the deal that could play to its advantage and, optimistically, secure approval from the competition authorities.
Telkom fiddles while investors lose patience
“Telkom in Continued Structural Decline?” – Peter Takaendesa, Head of Equities at Mergence Investment Managers, shares his insights with the Financial Mail, emphasizing the urgency for Telkom to expedite its value-unlock strategy to prevent additional asset impairment.
Do higher bond yields mean lower PE Ratios?
10 August 2023 A narrative that persisted during the decade of Quantitative Easing following the GFC was that central bank action had suppressed bond yields and, as a result, driven up the valuation of equities. This makes sense; the long bond yield is the key driver of the discount rate that the market uses to […]
Beurtkrag dra net deels tot die swak rand by
Sake/Netwerk utilises the Mergence Market Snippet on the Rand, compiled by CIO Brad Preston, on a weekly basis.
Emerging market currencies and rand weaken amid market volatility after Fitch cuts US credit rating
In a markets article featured in the Business Report, Mergence CIO Brad Preston is quoted discussing the Rand. He notes that the recent South Africa-specific risks are no longer fully reflected in the currency. The potential for additional Rand strength, he suggests, hinges on global factors, a weakening dollar, and a robust economic recovery in […]
A room temperature superconductor
03 August 2023 Late last month, researchers from a South Korean university published a pre-print academic paper claiming to have discovered a new material, LK-99, that achieves superconductivity at room temperature. Superconductivity is the property whereby a material offers zero or near-zero electrical resistance. Thus far, we know that superconductors require very low temperatures to […]
Steinhoff to delist as accounting scandal felled the once mighty retail giant
Peter Takaendesa, Mergence’s Head of Equities, provided commentary on the demise of Steinhoff in the Business Report.
Local vs Global? Factors driving the Rand.
27 July 2023 “Alarms over stage 10 load shedding leave the Rand reeling.” “South African Rand drops to 3-year low on loadshedding fears.” “Rand crumbles as load-shedding pressures mount.” These are just a few headlines from local and global news outlets over the past six months linking movements in our currency to South Africa’s on-going […]
Time for Telkom to execute on value unlock plan
Telkom has rejected another consortium bid to acquire a substantial stake – the consortium comprises former CEO Sipho Maseko, the PIC, and Mauritius-based Axian Telecom. The issue is not likely to disappear and shareholders will likely have a chance to hear out the matter at Telkom’s AGM on 24 August. Mergence’s Head: Equities, Peter Takaendesa, […]
Do consensus macro forecasts work?
20 July 2023 A paradox of the financial services industry is that few buy-side investors would admit to investing based on consensus macro forecasts. And yet brokers and investment banks employ teams of economists, strategists, and analysts who put out reams of such forecasts every quarter. Why does Wall Street spill so much ink and […]
Aspen Pharmacare’s share price gain this year may be only the beginning
Aspen Pharmacare – is the market rating the share price too low? Read the long-term Mergence houseview by Portfolio Manager Izak van Niekerk.
The tight US labour market
13 July 2023 A remarkable feature of the global economy over the past year has been the strength of the US job market. While advances in Artificial Intelligence such as self-driving cars and large language models threaten future employment prospects for many, the reality is that over the past two years the US has been […]
