DURBAN - JSE-listed investment group Reinet Investments is forging ahead with its share buyback programme by spending a further R29.37million plus transaction costs by repurchasing 120602 ordinary shares.
The group said yesterday that the shares were repurchased on the JSE and it had forked out an average of R243.51 a share between April 1 to April 5, paying R248.04 a share for the highest price and R240.15 for the lowest. “These repurchases were made as part of the share buyback programme announced on February 6,” it said.
Reinet said the programme would be executed within the limits of the existing authority granted by the company’s shareholders at the annual general meeting held on August 28 last year.
The buyback comes a week after the group repurchased 196439 ordinary shares in the period from March 25 to March 29 and spent R48.13m, plus transaction costs in the process for an average price of R245.02 a share.
The group commenced with the second phase of its share buyback programme and to date it has spent a total of R448.80m, plus transaction costs for a total of 1.94 million ordinary shares.
The second phase of the buyback began on February 11 and it will be concluded at the end of May. “The purpose of the programme is to return value to the shareholders of the company. Shares repurchased under the programme may be used for any legitimate purpose, such as consideration for acquisitions,” the group said.
The first buyback programme began in November and was concluded at the end of January, with the group having spent a total amount of R667.22m plus transaction costs for 3.2million ordinary shares. Reinet also announced that the Rupert family had declared its intention not to sell any shares during the duration of this programme.
Reinet was established in 2008 with the unbundling of the Remgro-Richemont-British American Tobacco (BAT) group.
The group has invested in both listed and unlisted companies and its investment in BAT remains its single largest investment position. Reinet holds 68.1million shares in BAT, representing 2.97percent of BAT’s issued share capital. The value of Reinet’s investment in BAT amounted to 2.74 billion (R43.48bn) at the end of September last year.
The share price traded weaker on the JSE yesterday and closed 1.45percent lower at R234.70 yesterday.