COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

MultiChoice chairman resigns with immediate effect



MYBROADBAND





MultiChoice chairman Imtiaz Patel is stepping down with immediate effect and is being replaced by Elias Masilela.



This comes three weeks after MultiChoice announced that Patel’s resignation had been put on hold so he could preside over negotiations with French media giant Groupe Canal+.



Canal+ was compelled to make a mandatory offer to buy MultiChoice earlier this year when it exceeded the 35% shareholding threshold stipulated in the Companies Act.



MultiChoice had announced in September last year that Patel would step down on 1 April 2024.



He would remain involved as a consultant to MultiChoice until October 2028.



Business Times recently reported that MultiChoice’s last-minute decision to extend Patel’s tenure had caused rifts at the company.



However, MultiChoice said the decision was unanimous. It also noted that Patel would not receive any additional fees he wouldn’t otherwise have.



Patel declined to comment, referring queries to MultiChoice, while Masilela said he supported the decision.



Mining giant BHP makes $39 bln bid for Anglo American in industry shake-up



REUTERS



BHP Group bid US$38.8 billion for Anglo American on Thursday, offering a deal to forge the world's biggest copper miner and sending its smaller rival's shares 13% higher.

BHP said it will offer Anglo's shareholders 25.08 pounds (US$31.39) per share, a premium of 31%, and carve out the London-listed group's iron ore and platinum assets in South Africa, where BHP, the world's largest listed miner, has no activities.



Anglo, which owns mines in countries including Chile, South Africa, Brazil and Australia, said its board was reviewing BHP's unsolicited, non-binding and highly conditional proposal. Under UK takeover rules, BHP has until May 22 to make a firm offer.

If agreed, a combination would create a copper mining group with around 10% of global output. It could also trigger further transactions in the sector, which has seen a rush of mergers and acquisitions as companies review portfolios to raise exposure to metals deemed critical to the global energy transition.



"This is all about copper," said Ben Cleary, portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners.

"It's a good deal for BHP. Anglo is obviously very much in play now and there's probably room for others to interlope. This is going to set the whole sector on fire," said Cleary, whose firm holds shares in both companies.

The bid comes after Anglo, which had a market value of US$37.7 billion at Wednesday's close, began a review of its assets in February in response to a 94% fall in annual profit and a series of writedowns due to a drop in demand for most of its metals.



AstraZeneca leaps after smashing first-quarter forecasts



REUTERS



AstraZeneca sailed past market expectations for quarterly revenue and profit on Thursday, boosted by demand for its blockbuster drugs and steady sales from partnered medicines and sending its shares up over 5%.

Oncology, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker's top business, delivered a 26% jump in first-quarter sales to US$5.12 billion.



CEO Pascal Soriot has rebuilt the company's pipeline of new drugs since taking the helm more than a decade ago, with blockbusters such as lung cancer drug Tagrisso, leukaemia drug Calquence and Farxiga for diabetes.



The second largest London-listed company by market value reported core earnings per share of US$2.06 on a 19% year-on-year rise in revenue to US$12.68 billion. That beat the profit of US$1.92 per share on revenue of US$11.84 billion expected by analysts in a company-compiled consensus.

"U.S. rights Research & Development (R&D) investment remains high but that's certainly bearing fruit, and with six Phase III trials initiated since the year end, there could be more to come," said Derren Nathan, head of equity research for Hargreaves Lansdown.



Deutsche Bank quarterly profit jumps 10% as investment bank outperforms



REUTERS



Deutsche Bank on Thursday a better-than-expected 10% increase in first-quarter profit as a resurgence in fixed-income trading and deal-making propelled revenue at its investment banking division.

The gains mean investment banking was able to reclaim its position as Deutsche's biggest breadwinner from its giant retail division that had recently benefited from higher interest rates but suffered from customer service glitches.



The group's figures marked the 15th consecutive quarter of profit - a considerable streak in the black for Deutsche after hefty losses during the last decade.

Its shares, which are up about 60% over the past year, opened 1.5% lower after the results.

Deutsche's net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.275 billion euros (US$1.37 billion) in the quarter. That compares with profit of 1.158 billion euros a year earlier, and it was better than analyst expectations for profit of around 1.2 billion euros.