re Pargesa, GBLB.BR - these are layers in the holding structure that Power/ Frere control jointly that was build to enable control with less capital, imo. Pargesa's main asset is its 50%+ holding in GBLB, which holds straight stakes in several public companies.
The problem I am having with Pargesa is that they count their NAV based on their share of the ,b>NAV of GBLB.BR not their share of the current GBLB stock market value (GBLB NAV is 30%+ higher than GBLB stock market value right now).
So this inflates Pargesa NAV as stated on their website. the argument of course is that they control GBLB, which is true since they have more than 50% of the voting rights. My personal preference with these holding structures is to go down as far as possible because that way NAV are more straightforward to calculate. it remains to be seen if this is correct, because Frere took out the NAT.BR layer out first and has shuffled some Imerys holdings from Pargesa to GBLB, a transaction, which slightly favored Pargesa.
I think they could easily take out either GBLB or Pargesa to unlock the difference between the NAV and the lower market value but that would cost them some capital to buy out the minority shareholders (unless they do some sort of a swap, but that is difficult, because the holdings trade in different stock markets).
Another thing that i can see happening is that Imerys (which they control) either becomes a 100% holding, via buyout, or they sell them for a nice premium to a willing buyer. But of course in any, case, we are talking probably years here. For now, i am happy to hold some decent European stocks (which in aggregate i consider undervalued by itself) at a larger than usual discount and getting 2 Euro/share in dividend (minus some taxes) in about a month. |
