Cape Times 2022-08-04

Group says it has received the necessary regulatory approvals for the plan IT IS PROMISING to be a humdinger of a general meeting for PSG on Wednesday when a large number of disgruntled shareholders vote on the group’s unbundling scheme. PSG, the investment group, said yesterday it had received the necessary regulatory approvals for the scheme and was proceeding with its meeting of shareholders next Wednesday, to vote and approve the deal. Southern Cross Capital portfolio manager Louis Potgieter said on a CNBC Africa television programme on Tuesday that he believed most minority shareholders were opposed to the scheme, but PSG’s “gun-to-the-head, take-it-or-leave-it approach” meant they would likely approve the unbundling, rather than stay with an increasingly “rent-seeking” management who seemed intent on diluting minority shareholders’ interests. PSG has consistently…

“WHEN WILL THE South African government do the same for our people?” renowned whistle-blower Athol Williams said yesterday as pressure mounts on the South African government to act on Bain & Company’s role in State capture in South Africa. This as the UK government on Tuesday suspended the consultancy group from public sector work after it tainted its hands with dodgy deals involving the South African Revenue Service (Sars) among others. Williams, who pointed out that the UK decision was the death knell for the global group, said the issue “is a case study of the cost of corruption”. “The UK is Bain’s second largest market. The US their largest. The financial impact in the UK will be significant, because UK companies will not want to work with a company…

MTN HAS EMERGED as the Most Valuable Brand in South Africa for 2022 in the Kantar BrandZ ranking, after increasing its brand value by 85 percent to $3.7 billion (R61.5bn) year-on-year. The statement yesterday came as Charles Molapisi, MTN SA’s chief execu- tive, speaking to journalists ahead of the company releasing its results next week, said MTN was working hard at transforming the business from being a telecommunications business to a technology company. “We are very proud of our performance, which highlights the hard work undertaken over the past year. “Not only are we embarking on a future-ready transformation and ex- pansion into a platform business under our Ambition 2025 strategy, but we have also been investing heavily in disruptive technologies to transform our brand from a telco…

THE DOMESTIC currency market weakened slightly yesterday as South Africa’s energy crisis continued while the announced increase in global crude oil output in September failed to allay investors’ uncertainty over the pace of US rate hikes. Opec and its allies (Opec+) yester- day agreed to raise their oil output by only 100 000 barrels per day in September. The recommended increase misses market expectations after US President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia last month and called on the Opec+ cartel to pump more crude in a bid to ease high energy prices in the US and Europe. The 31st Opec and non-Opec ministerial meeting noted with particular concern that insufficient investment into the upstream sector would impact the availability of adequate supply in a timely manner to meet growing…

OLD MUTUAL has joined a growing list of financial services groups planning to provide finance to the SMME market after it yesterday announced the R350 million acquisition of a minori- ty stake in Preference Capital – a leading local provider of SME finance solutions. The deal also carries the option to purchase a controlling stake, pending the Competition Commission’s approval. African Bank, Tymebank and Standard Bank have all recently announced initiatives to gain a greater share of the SMME financing market. The R350m investment in Preference Capital would enable Old Mutual to partner with a growing base of SME customers, alternative distribution channels, and a diverse range of lending products enabled through innovation and…

THE HEAD OF commercial banking at Sasfin who started out as a teller in a bank is offering support to entrepreneurs in South Africa. Armed with a degree in economics and mathematical statistics, Andile Hote has walked a long journey from the rural parts of the Eastern Cape to working in the country’s leading financial institutions. “Knowing that my work supports entrepreneurs, the South African economy and job creation leads my approach to every deal we do at Sasfin. I come from those values – I know what they mean to our clients,” Hote told Business Report. Hote says that South Africans’ famed resilience has truly been put to the test over the past two years, between Covid-19, electricity shortages, unrest, increase in fuel prices, interest rate hikes and climate…