Good, stand alone gold mining companies like Kloof and Vaal Reefs have been amalgamated with dogs to make the combination completely unattractive to new shareholders and a write off for old ones. Once represented in the US by ADRs (VAALY, KLOFY), the new entities are almost unrecognizable (AU) or invisible (GDFDY).
Current ADRs like Gold Fields Ltd (GDFDY), Amplats (AAPTY), Impala (IMPAY), Johnson Matthey (JMPLY) are I think Level 1, if that is the correct term. (DRFNY still trades as Level 2.) It is difficult to obtain current quotes or trade them electronically. One must call a broker, who then calls around to determine what the (usually large) spread is between the current bid/ask. It is not surprising that there is little liquidity or interest in these stocks in North America, even though the basket of pgm prices is at or near historic highs.
It seems to me increasingly difficult to readily and profitably invest or trade in these South African (and English) stocks. I thought that perhaps the companies didn't want to bother with tightened NASDAQ listing requirements.
Your view that South African business in general ranks shareholder interests low in the panoply of management concerns is interesting, and may help explain this situation. However, with an apparently deteriorating economy, wouldn't the miners try to enhance their visibility in US markets in the next few months? |
