Bonamour keeps his head – Rudyard Kipling would approve

By Alec Hogg

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs……” The British Empire’s jingoist poet Rudyard Kipling may be less quoted nowadays, but his poem “If….” lives on as a guide for a many a modern man. Including, it appears, 43 year old Andrew Bonamour, the investment banker turned media mogul who yesterday unveiled plans to acquire total ownership of the Times Media Group (TMG).

At a time when most South African business executives are winding down for the holidays, Bonamour announced two deals worth roughly R2bn each. The first is for his Blackstar investment trust to buy the two thirds of TMG it doesn’t yet own. The second to acquire Tiso’s slice of Kagiso Tiso Holdings.

There’s a lot of meat in the announcement so it takes some digesting. But the critical aspect is confidence in South Africa at a time when so many others are looking to ship as much cash offshore as possible. What does Bonamour know that they don’t? Perhaps it’s as simple as retaining perspective, keeping his head when others are losing theirs?