Company news in brief

Bidcorp to sell unit to Tesco's BookerSouth African food services company Bid Corp Ltd (Bidcorp) on Wednesday said it would sell its Best Food Logistics unit in Britain to Tesco Plc's unit, Booker Group.Bidcorp, which operates in Europe, United Kingdom, Australasia and emerging markets, said as a result of the deal there will be no material financial impact on its net assets or profits for the full year ending 30 June 2020. – Nampa/ReutersDiscovery targets mental healthDiscovery is targeting 500 000 insurance clients in South Africa to take regular surveys on their mental health in an extension of a programme which rewards "good" behaviours.The South African insurer's model already offers clients insurance discounts and everything from free coffee to cheap flights for buying healthy food, exercising and driving safely.Dinesh Govender, CEO of Vitality, the insurer's behaviour change programme, said the aim, as with its physical fitness scheme, was both to make its clients healthier and over time bring down the cost of claims.The Vitality model has been adopted by insurers including Discovery's joint venture partner Ping An in China and Manulife's John Hancock in the United States, which now only writes insurance using it.Discovery's data shows the model succeeds in attracting and retaining healthy, more desirable clients, while those who pursue less healthy lifestyles tend to drop off. – Nampa/ReutersHelios Towers launches London IPOAfrican mobile networks operator Helios Towers Ltd priced its initial public offering at 115-145 pence per share on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, implying a total valuation of US$1.42 billion to US$1.79 billion.The company, which operates phone masts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Ghana, South Africa and Tanzania, last year shelved plans for its IPO amid concerns about political risks in DRC and Tanzania.Helios is planning a free float of at least 25% of the company, with a listing on the London Stock Exchange, and will use the proceeds for expanding its services, including possibly into new countries, it has said.The decision to press ahead with the deal comes despite turbulent market conditions in Britain amid the long-running chaos surrounding the negotiations to exit the European Union, and the poor recent performance of other African IPOs in London.Airtel Africa saw its shares drop 15% to 67 pence per share on its market debut after completing a 595 million pound (US$730 million) IPO in late June. Since then shares have fallen further, and were as low as 50 pence on Tuesday.Vivo Energy shares are down 1% since its May 2018 debut. – Nampa/ReutersSA union drags Samancor to courtOne of South Africa's largest mining unions filed a court case on Wednesday against privately-owned manganese and chrome producer Samancor Chrome relating to alleged fraud.Human rights lawyer Richard Spoor, who is representing the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) said the case related to fraud and profit shifting worth hundreds of millions of US dollars.Samancor, the second largest chrome producer in the world, declined to comment immediately.AMCU has an interest in Samancor Ltd., through its members in the Ndizani Workers ESOP Trust which indirectly owns 5.6% of Samancor.The court papers allege the directors engaged in corrupt dealings and estimated these caused a loss to employees from the Ndizani Workers ESOP trust to the value of US$100 million. – Nampa/ReutersNetflix investigated for tax evasionItalian prosecutors have opened an investigation into alleged tax evasion targeting US streaming service Netflix, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said yesterday.Prosecutors in Milan say Netflix should pay taxes in Italy despite the fact that is has no physical presence locally because of the digital infrastructure it uses to stream content to 1.4 million users in the country, the source said.Prosecutors argue that cables and computer servers used by Netflix amount to a physical presence in Italy.The source said the probe had been triggered by checks conducted by Italy's tax police. Given the size of the alleged tax evasion prosecutors were obligated to open an investigation, the source said.No Netflix executive is under investigation because the probe is still at a preliminary stage, the source said. – Nampa/Reuters

Company news in brief

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