Registry High-flyer Folds 'em For A Modest $1.2m
The Age
Saturday November 17, 2001
It's been a busy week for the once high-flying share-registry specialist Computershare and its still high-flying deputy chairman Peter John Griffin.
On Thursday, the company announced it would acquire its largest South African competitor, Mercantile Registrars, for a lazy $22 million.
While the size of the deal may disappoint those looking for something bigger in the wake of Computershare's $150million capital raising earlier this month, analysts liked it and the shares rose accordingly.
Also on Thursday, Mr Griffin sold 250,000 shares for a cool $1.2million.
The last time Mr Griffin - who has worked as a broker, and so knows when to hold them and when to fold them - dipped into the market, Computershare was riding high at roughly $8 a share.
This time around he had to settle for a price closer to $5.
But Mr Griffin, who still holds a two-million-share stake in the company, is looking good if the pundits are right.
Deutsche Bank says ``buy", with a hefty $7.50 price target, after Computershare ``significantly strengthened" its South African operations.
ABN Amro is more circumspect, giving Computershare a ``hold" rating and a $5 price target. However, the Dutch-based house did say the Mercantile Registrars deal satisfied the two criteria of ``strategic consistency and reasonable price".
© 2001 The Age