Greenbay Property’s R1.6bn unsolicited offer for the jewel in the crown of Group Five is exactly the kind of deal the construction group’s former directors warned about — before they were pushed out. The cash offer for Group Five’s European business caused its share price to shoot up by as much as 42% when it was announced on Monday. But not everyone is convinced it’s a good deal. Speaking to the Financial Mail this week, former Group Five chair Philisiwe Mthethwa said it didn’t make sense for a company to sell its best-performing division — and to return the proceeds of that sale to shareholders — at a time when the rest of the business was not performing well. "I believe this offer is going to be a test for the new board. It you look at this deal, it has all the same ingredients as the fight earlier this year between the previous board and a shareholder." A good deal, she says, should be based on a fair valuation of the European business. But there’s no sense yet of whether this v...
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