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How Old Mutual blew it

Mar 11 2010 00:00

If you'd invested R100 in Old Mutual 10 years ago it would be worth less now than the amount you put in. It's a damning indictment of a failed globalisation strategy that has cost shareholders at least R100bn in acquisitions and subsequent capital injections since its ill-fated London listing in 2000. That excludes a further bill of around R8bn in cumulative corporate costs since demutualisation.

Companies & Markets

No longer so lofty

Mar 11 2010 00:00

A YEAR CAN BE a long time in the life of a small cap company. Just ask empowerment investment company Tiso, which must be smarting at its January 2009 deal to acquire a strategic 25,1% stake in African Cellular Towers (ACTowers), which claims a presence in 28 African countries and specialises in cellular transmission towers, equipment shelters and power lines.

Insight

Promises of high interest...

Mar 11 2010 00:00

PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS are advised to keep well away from Sharemax Bay Estate Development Fund Ltd's latest offer of a share:debenture combination, as set out in its Prospectus 3. Analyse your own needs very carefully and don't be fooled by all the wonderful things Sharemax reps tell you. Briefly, Sharemax Bay is offering investors a fixed simple interest rate of 20% a year in a fixed investment for at least five years - or until after (all?) the stands that are developed with the money have been sold. Sharemax warns in the prospectus that the investment could be very illiquid.

Money Clinic

Sellers hit auction floors

Mar 11 2010 00:00

DISCOUNT BUYING opportunities are coming to the fore in the commercial property market as a flood of small shopping centres, factories, office blocks, hotels, B&Bs and spas hit auction floors. Industry players say last year it was mostly residential real estate owners who were scrambling to offload properties they could no longer afford. A second wave of distressed selling is now under way, but this time around it's commercial property investors and small business operators who are cashing in their assets.

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Trends

Credit demand dead

Mar 11 2010 00:00

PRIVATE SECTOR credit extension (PSCE) - a key indicator of monetary policy - has died, with growth rates negative for some time now. Citigroup economist Jean-Francois Mercier says the latest trends in monetary and credit aggregates seem to indicate South Africa is entering a "credit-less" recovery: that is, one where real gross domestic product increases but loans outstanding fall as a share of GDP.

People

The name of the game

Mar 11 2010 00:00

Profile: Stiaan Klue

STIAAN KLUE HAS JUST turned 30 and is already considered one of the highest rated tax professionals in South Africa. Not only is he the CE of the South African Institute of Tax Practitioners (SAIT), vice-chairman of the Greater Johannesburg Business Chamber and director of the Southern African Institute for Business Accountants, he also finds time to lecture and examine on tax matters at the universities of Pretoria, Johannesburg and North West. Not to mention the fact he's written various books, articles and conference papers on the matter.

Columns

Nothing Sacred

Mar 11 2010 00:00

POWER TO THE PEOPLE: Hitachi contracts here reputed to be much more expensive than elsewhere

Surveys

Corporate Profiles

Mercedes-Benz 2010

Flagship Surveys

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