Grupo Catalana Occidente – Buyout offer

The Sierra Familia, which already owns 60% of GCO (Grupo Catalana Occidente) made an offer to adquire the remaining shares for 50 euros each. It’s the type of situation that makes me sad. The company has been growing earnings and book value almost at 10% a year, and even at this price, it’s valued at 9 times earnings at below book value.

They barely paid a dividend, and the company was very conservative. It was a really nice company that was too cheap. They are going to get a bargain of the remaining shares, and one of the few ways to get exposure to the credit insurance market is now gone.

On the other hand, it’s a nice time to have some cash available as the market has been failing since the start of the year, for the US and for Japan. I’ll try to allocate the capital shorthly.

I made my first buy at 30,65€ in November of 2023. Sold in July 2024 at 38€, Rebought them again for the same price in November and lost yesterday at 49€. A