This week, the Lebashe Investment Group announced the launch of its new media entity, Arena Holdings. More importantly, for us, it has signed a strategic equity partnership with BizNews. In this episode, Alec Hogg and I talk about Lebashe’s acquisition of Tiso Blackstar’s media assets, the strategic thinking at Arena, and why Biznews signed on the dotted line. We also explore what this deal means for Biznews and our community. And, of course, we couldn’t resist saying a few words about South Africa’s masterful World Cup performance. – Felicity Duncan
News broke this week of a new partnership between Biznews and Lebashe Investment, a private investment company with stakes in businesses across Africa. Lebashe made headlines back in June when it announced the acquisition of the media assets of Tiso Blackstar in a R1bn deal. On Wednesday, Lebashe and Biznews announced a strategic equity partnership that will see Alec Hogg taking a board seat at Arena Holdings, the new name for Lebashe’s collection of media assets.
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For Hogg, the deal opens up new and exciting opportunities for Biznews. As he explains, we have always taken a long view of the media business and Lebashe shares this vision for long-term success.
Just as the Lebashe deal has injected new enthusiasm in our Biznews team, South Africa’s decisive Rugby World Cup victory last weekend has inspired a new optimism in South Africa (along with #KFCProposal, of course). Rassie Erasmus, Siya Kolisi, and their team showed that the path to victory is a long one, and that failure can be part of the plan if you’re planning right.
