My notes on the recent CIG deal, if anyone's interested:
FAH agreed to recap CIG in 2018/2019 in three stages: a $21m loan (2.5% fee, prime+4%, 1 year), $51m in a rights issue at R4/sh (underwritten by FAH for 2.5% fee. Uptake was only 10.5% because the share price was below the offer price, so FAH got most of the shares which I imagine was the intention), and then conversion of the loan into equity at R5.20. After the conversion FAH will have 56% of the stock at an average price of R4.14. As of Feb 2019 CIG trades at R3.10 but the company's own SOTP (p17 here:
http://www.ciglimited.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Project-Wakanda-Shareholder-meeting-re-convert_13August2018_vF.pdf), which looks reasonably conservative at first glance, says it's worth R7.10. CIG is a pan-African diversified energy infrastructure holding company exposed to growing investment in power generation & grids etc. The problem is that the construction arm got into classic construction trouble with cost overruns etc. This caused the holdco to breach covenants on its long term debt, triggering a holders call clause and the need for a rights issue. There seems to be value in the other subsidiaries, so with a better debt structure this opportunity might never have arisen. The major assets are Conco and Conlog. Conco builds substations and high voltage electrification projects including wind parks and solar farms across Africa and the Middle East. This is the business that got the holdco into trouble. It has been restructured and reorganised to improve execution and project selection, management have been given CFops incentives for the next 3 years, and CIG believes it will return to profitability over the next 12-18 months. Conlog makes prepaid and smart electric meters. These can be sold or leased or bundled as a service (e.g. revenue management and load management for utilities and municipalities). Conlog will receive an equity injection to accelerate the buildout of the lease/service annuity streams at an anticipated 20-25% ROE. Other assets include AES (Angola Environmental Services - does waste disposal for the oil and gas industry in Angola, debt free), CIGenCo (develops mid-sized generation projects, made its first profit in 2018, targets a 20-25% ROE, and has 6 out of 14 projects coming online soon), CPM (maintains renewables and transmission sites), Tractionel (electrifies railways), and CBM (Consolidated Building Materials, consisting of Drift Supersand which mines aggregates and West End Claybrick which manufactures clay bricks and concrete roof tiles). A number of these businesses are currently depressed either due to the oil price (Angola rig count is at historic lows) or the South African economy (construction has been in a recession for some time).
In summary FAH seem to have got reasonable value, there's a clear reason why that opportunity existed, and there's a decent platform for future growth.
