How David Shapiro’s son unmasked Viceroy; and why only half Old Firm buys SA’s wave of optimism.

LONDON — Welcome to the Old Firm podcast. I'm Alec Hogg, editor of Biznews.com. Well had different paths opened up for him, David Shapiro could easily have ended up as a financial journalist, he'd have been a really good one too. That's judging by the excerpts of his son, Johnny. In the previous episode of the Old Firm, David was more than a little agitated by the exploits of Viceroy, the short-selling research firm that had brought the once, mighty Steinhoff to its knees. Shapiro Jnr, no doubt listening to his father's problems, works for the Australian Financial Review so he picked up the cudgels and in double-quick time, he managed to uncover the mysterious fellow behind Viceroy. What happened next gets this podcast off to a fascinating start, as you'll hear. As do our divergent views later on, when we discuss property rights, and the rapidity of Southern Africa's rebound.

So Dave, there's quite a few things to talk about but let's pick up from where we left off last week, which was with Viceroy, and now we know that the man behind Viceroy is a guy called Fraser Perring. I actually had a good laugh at your son, Jonathan, who works for the Australian Financial Review, is that right?

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