Trustco’s share surge conundrum
You might think a credit downgrade would hurt the Namibian investment company’s share price — but you would be wrong
Can it get any weirder at Namibian investment company Trustco? The company — which owns insurance, banking, property and mining interests — surged to a new high of R13.49 on August 31 … the same day that Global Credit Ratings (GCR) slapped it with an ominous credit downgrade. This is the second time Trustco’s shares have suddenly surged at month-end — the price having also spiked on smallish trading volumes at the end of June. GCR downgraded Trustco’s long-and short-term national scale ratings to limited default (LD) from BBB+(NA) and A2(NA) respectively. The LD designation means a company has failed to meet scheduled payments or interest payments on one or more of its obligations. The ratings specialist noted there had been an agreed creditor standstill between Trustco and its key funding partners — "under which we understand that there have been two nonpayments of originally contracted principal". GCR said the request for the restructuring was initiated by Trustco before the payme...
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