THOUGH terse, yesterday's cautionary notice by members of the Kagiso consortium con tained ample fuel for speculation. The consortium put in an unsuccessful bid for New Africa Investments Limited (Nail) against the Tiso consortium, which has secured most of the Nail shares and is applying for regulatory approvals.
It is now of largely academic interest, but the Kagiso notice appears to show that CaxtonCTP did not get involved with the main aim of taking over The Sowetan, as some commentators would have had it.
Rather, it seems to have been providing much of the finance for the consortium's R3,45 a share bid for Nail's media assets. In return for playing financier, the cash-flush Caxton would have got more printing contracts from Johncom.
The purpose of yesterday's notice was to inform shareholders that as the bid had been withdrawn, Caxton-CTP was no longer under cautionary. It also mentioned that Kagiso Media and Johnnic Communications are still trying to secure some of Nail's media assets.
Tiso consortium spokesman Fani Titi would not be drawn on whether negotiations were taking place, but it has been widely speculated that Kagiso is interested in Nail's stakes in Jacaranda radio and Radmark, and Johncom would like to get its hands on The Sowetan and Sowetan Sunday World.
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