The world is changing fast and to keep up you need local knowledge with global context.
By Alec Hogg In 1998, when the late Imperial Holdings CEO Bill Lynch used R15m of the group’s money to establish the Ukhamba Trust, he was probably following his own credo of “Just do it.” Fifteen years on, the magic has happened. By any measure, Ukhamba is one of the most successful Black Economic Empowerment schemes. … Read more
Welkom Yizani had its first positive trading session today. The shares gained 55c in the session to end at 1005c – fractionally higher than the issue price of R10. Shareholders can be pleased, however, that they are actually able to trade. The Equity Express platform has coped well – in the first day trading twice the … Read more
Given MTN Zakhele’s aborted debut, the good news about today’s listing of Welkom Yizani – Media24’s BEE share offering – is that the platform managed relatively heavy trading (75 000 shares in 517 deals) without any glitches. The bad news is that after a bright start, selling pressure dropped the price from an early peak … Read more
The MTN Zakhele saga is sure to generate plenty of research papers among academics in university Communications Departments. On how NOT to do things. A heavy investment in pre-listing marketing completely wasted as trade had to be suspended after a couple hours on the opening Monday. Even bigger mess on day two. A promise to … Read more
The MTN Zakhele reputational disaster took another turn today with its announcement its trading platform needs another two weeks before it can attempt re-opening. And then only maybe. As the Press Release republished below notes, trading might resume on the 17th December. Maybe. If testing is successful. Over the past few days I’ve spoken to … Read more
MTN Zakhele is sticking to its story that “unprecedented demand” knocked over its share trading system. And says this alone is the reason for the aborted listing of the BEE shares owned by 120 000 investors, not that it erred in choosing an inexperienced service provider. Or the fact that during its two days of … Read more
MTN Zakhele’s disastrous start to life as a traded entity took a turn for the worse when it announced today’s proposed re-opening of trading won’t happen after all. A statement from the company says it will only be able to tell its 120 000 shareholders on Thursday when the trading platform will re-open after a … Read more
Since 1 November, MTN Zakhele shareholders have been encouraged to register ahead of being able to start trading their shares last Monday. An aggressive media campaign was also launched in the run-up to the Big Day. On Biznews.com we ran a story about how the new BEE share listing was due to enjoy vibrant trading. … Read more
There’s a quiet boom happening in BEE shares issued by a number of South Africa’s major public companies. On Monday, 120 000 shareholders in the MTN Zakhele scheme will be able to begin trading their shares. In this interview the scheme’s chairman, former Eskom CEO Thulani Gcabashe explains how these investors have already landed a … Read more