Thermal coal producer Thungela Resources’ debut on the JSE this month was a disappointing affair. To some extent, this was predictable given that a portion of its UK register is – or was – tracker funds. These are Anglo American shareholders that were handed Thungela shares as a function of Anglo’s coal asset demerger. Since they normally are not mandated to hold coal shares, the only outcome was selling.
At a debut valuation of $250m, the share traded well below the $440m to $950m valuation imputed to it by Liberum Capital, a UK bank. At the time of writing, the share was recovering from its shaky start, but time will tell the full story.
That may only be towards the end of the year.