Universal Partners, a low-key offshore investment company listed on the JSE, might have to settle for a slightly smaller bite of the UK dental market.
Joubert said the CMA announced its Phase 1 decision earlier this month, confirming that there were no competition concerns at a national level. But the CMA argued there was a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition in certain local areas if the Dentex and Portman merger went ahead.
Universal reiterated that the Portman transaction would not have a material effect on the current valuation of Dentex in the short term. But the group believed that as transaction progressed to completion, “an increase in the value of Dentex was likely”. Joubert said the fresh capital raised through the issue of the CLNs was used to fund the recent acquisition of Whitefin Group, an international contractor management group headquartered in Barcelona, and this month’s purchase of TBOS, a specialist provider of outsourced middle and back office services to the recruitment sector.