Around the country, South Africans have come together to honour the memory of Nelson Mandela and to participate in ceremonies commemorating his life. And companies throughout the country have found creative ways to honour him too. For example, Citi South Africa donated R2.1m to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, and South African retailers, including Woolworths, … Read more
An already bad year for the controversial Gupta family got even worse today when the Constitutional Court ruled against its opportunistic attempt to secure 21.4% of the mineral rights at Kumba’s operating Sishen iron ore mine. To access a copy of Mr Justice Jafta’s full judgement, click here. The Guptas hail from a small town … Read more
At his funeral on Sunday, the spirit of South Africa’s icon Nelson Mandela will be released through the slaughtering of an ox and other traditional rights of the Xhosa people. The insightful piece below by Sibongile Khumalo offers an inside view of the ceremony. It will be the last but one event in a week … Read more
Former SA Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni has taken well to business. This morning he ushered in the JSE’s newest listing, Accelerate Property Fund, whose R6bn portfolio is dominated by the Fourways Mall, an enormous development north of Sandton. In this engaging and wide ranging interview, Accelerate chairman Mboweni moves from Nelson Mandela’s turnaround from … Read more
Adrian Saville has been in the news lately. The founder and Chief Investment Officer of Cannon Asset Managers, a visiting professor at GIBS, was ranked by students as one of the world’s best, getting 857 Facebook “Likes” (the most) in a competition run by The Economist. And last month Peregrine announced it has acquired a controlling … Read more
Tuesday’s SENS announcement that Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste (52) had sold R309m worth of stock gave some of the group’s shareholders the jitters. The share price has been on a rip this year, rising from R24 in June. It closed at R42.80 on Wednesday. Was the CEO signaling that after a 78% surge in six … Read more
We all know the story – African economies are, in many cases, growing rapidly; investment opportunities abound; and a lot of smart money is flowing in from all over the world. At the same time, of course, we also know that investors need to be cautious in frontier markets. While there is growth potential, and … Read more
By now we’ve all heard about the Federal Reserve’s imminent tapering – the Fed’s plan to cut back sharply on its programme of quantitative easing. And we all know that it is expected to have some pretty serious consequences for companies and economies around the world. In this interview, Peter Brooke, Boutique Head of Old … Read more
Promoting South Africa has its challenges. Like the uncomfortable squirm during the globally watched Mandela Memorial when the country’s President is boo-ed. Or hearing how the country is perceived by Americans as a jungle with wild animals in our back gardens. Not forgetting the visual impact and memories created by the still-fresh Marikana tragedy. Gugu … Read more
Through my involvement with the Sport of Kings, I served for a time on the board of the listed horse-racing business Phumelela. Ahead of the appointment, as with any other director of a company with a gambling licence, I was required to complete a veritable book of personal and financial information – a process called … Read more