Anfi has been a feature on our pages for a long time, the stories have been mainly centred from the perspective of the members, many of whom have won their cases, and the legal battles from the Tauro Beach debacle to the in-house fighting for control. We have also explained the history of Anfi from Lyngs original dream to the present day, it has been quite a ride, what we have not considered in detail is the other side to the present “problems”, the IFA “shareholders”, how do they see what we have been reporting?
This question may have been answered by a Gentleman from Northern Germany, he made contact with the following email along with his report:
Dear Charles,
I read your series of articles on Anfi with interest. I myself am not affected by the timeshare legal dispute over Anfi. My interest in Anfi results from my shareholding in the German “LS Invest AG” (formerly “IFA Hotel & Touristik AG”), in which Lopesan holds the large majority (89.67%). The remaining LS Invest AG shares can still be traded on a regional stock exchange (Hamburg), but due to the delisting that has taken place in the meantime, there are no longer any disclosure requirements for the capital market. The investment case is essentially based on the fact that the shares in LS Invest AG are currently heavily undervalued and this undervaluation would be reversed if Lopesan took over the remaining shares (squeeze-out).
Unfortunately, we small shareholders have to collect information ourselves because the company representatives (certainly in the interest of Lopesan) do not value transparency. The lack of transparency is certainly a major reason for the undervaluation of the remaining shares.
One of the aspects of the undervaluation is related to Anfi. LS Invest has bought the 50% stake in Anfi (excluding the golden share) in 2016 for €36m. As you probably know, according to the assessment of the insolvency administrator of the Cazorla group, the entire Anfi group is said to be worth a total of €404 million to Anfi. LS Invests 50% stake would thus be worth approximately €166 million more than the purchase price. To put this in context: The current market capitalization of LS Invest is only €286 million and is listed at 40% below the book value. In addition, the company has various other valuable assets (including a new hotel complex in the Dominican Republic). The remaining small shareholders are now waiting (unfortunately for years) for the squeeze-out. So much for the starting position. As I understand it, Anfi is a strategic acquisition target for Lopesan. The complete takeover could take place indirectly via LS Invest AG.
That’s why I researched the situation regarding Anfi and compiled it in a Google document. Perhaps you are interested in reading this and, if necessary, pointing out any mistakes to me. And perhaps there are some points which you did not know or see differently.
Name withheld at writer’s request.
AIT has now received his permission to publish his report, so next week we will be looking at how this private investor and shareholder views it all. The article will be in English and there will also be a PDF of the original German.
This Friday we continue our look at some of the legal wrangles around timeshare in the US, with Irene’s “October Oral Arguments: Holiday Inn Club Vacations and Bluegreen Vacations at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals”.
Due to some unplanned events, we had to take a forced break, everything is now returning to normal, whatever that is. Baby Dog insisted on having a wander in the local park, I’m sure he was a botanist in a previous life, he’s always sniffing the plants!
