BizNews Radio

For the past three weeks South Africa's largest asset managers - and particularly Coronation, Allan Gray and Ninety One - have been accused of profiteering at the expense of retail investors. This came in the wake of detailed analysis by Ranmore Funds founder Sean Peche, who holds both CA and CFA qualifications, which showed South African investors were paying much higher fees than their counterparts elsewhere in the world. Coronation's Head of Personal Investments, Pieter Koekemoer, presents the other side of the story in this Right of Reply discussion with Alec Hogg of BizNews.com. In it he argues that Peche's analysis is not a fair comparion; addresses the Coronation incentive model (30% of pretax profits as a bonus); responds to Sygnia founder Magda Wierzycka's scathing attack in Coroantion's culture - and explains why it has taken so long for the JSE-listed company to respond.

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David Bacher of Corion Capital engages with many of SA's fund managers. When asked to name his favourite, he recommended we have a chat with ClucasGray's Andrew Vintcent. So we did. Here's the resulting interview with a portfolio manager who believes many unappreciated SA stocks are so cheap they're discounting far worse than even what the worst pessimists are projecting. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

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While ANC leadership clings to the notion of winning an outright majority in 2024's national elections, even their own voters believe coalitions are the way of the future. BizNews correspondent Michael Appel unpacks the Social Research Foundation's latest report.

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One of the SA money management industry's ultimate insiders, veteran investor Chris Logan, has entered the debate over 'performance fees' charged to small investors via big companies' self-created benchmarks. Logan was a star manager at Old Mutual, BOE Asset Management and HSBC before starting his own company, Opportune, two decades ago. As a shareholder in Coronation, he is urging the company to publicly respond to Ranmore Funds founder Sean Peche's disclosures, which he describes as "explosive". Only one of the big companies tagged by Peche for charging fees not countenanced elsewhere (Ninety One) has offered a response - and then primarily because it was inadvertently named instead of Coronation for a dubious practice conducted by its rival. Adding spice to the mix is that Coronation, whose numbers are public because its shares are listed on the JSE, carves out 30% of its profit into a bonus pool for distribution among 160 staff - in its most recent financial year that came to R700m. Logan says such a huge bonus aligns staff with shareholders. A counter is that it may also encourage profiteering of the kind alleged by Peche. Logan discussed the issue with Alec Hogg of BizNews.com.

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Former President Jacob Zuma’s private prosecution of state Adv Billy Downer and News24 journalist Karyn Maughan has been labelled vindictive and an attack on media freedom. In this podcast, BizNews correspondent Michael Appel breaks down the charges laid against Downer and Maughan. The summons - served on Tuesday - instructs the duo to appear in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on 10 October 2022.

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Deeply rational Piet Viljoen updates us on his investment perspectives in this wide ranging interview with Alec Hogg of BizNews.com. The BNC#4 keynote speaker contrasts the fortunes of the world's three major economic blocs, but warns that while currency and share markets are priced for this to last indefinitely, nothing is forever. Viljoen also shares his thoughts on the debate over performance fees, sparked by Sean Peche's disclosures on BizNews - providing perspective on seemingly outrageous rumours that the CEO of Coronation Fund Managers is paid a staggering R100m a year.

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It’s becoming increasingly obvious that gut health is central to overall wellbeing in more comprehensive ways than previously conceivable. Research into the human microbiome is challenging the traditional definitions and treatment methods of virtually all diseases, from depression to coronary disease. BizNews spoke to Dr William Davis, a cardiologist who transformed health by doing the exact opposite of what all dietary guidelines suggested. The New York Times bestselling author and gut health expert delved into the ways in which gut microbes affect human health and how Big Pharma and Big Agribusiness have been so successful at squashing the dissemination of health messages that threaten their interests.

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The Ramaphosa Administration often refers to "nine lost years" under precedessor Jacob Zuma. But the billionaire trade-unionist-turned-mogul isn't doing much better in the hot seat with today's official GDP number for the second three months of 2022 contracting year on year - with SA's economy still below where it was ahead of the Covid lockdowns. Pretoria is caught in a vice of its own ideological making with no room to cut taxes; no capacity for borrowing to invest in growth; and no private investment as confidence in politicial leadership among consumers and businesses has fallen to an all-time low. In this insightful interview, Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings shares his thoughts on how South Africans should shape their own investments to overcome the challenges of the depressing scenario in their homeland.

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South Africa is way behind the curve when it comes to early-stage venture-backed businesses. The country has not managed to excite the global venture capital community in the same way that other African countries like Nigeria and Kenya. To address this lag, the Local Scale Up programme was launched in 2021 by Endeavor, an international company with a local presence that promotes high-growth entrepreneurs, and the SA SME Fund. The programme supports a cohort of early stage tech start-ups and help them access markets, mentors and capital. The managing director of Endeavor in South Africa, Alison Collier, told BizNews the companies in the programme have seen excellent growth and are expected to deliver R3 billion in revenue by the end of the year. Job growth has almost doubled in the last six months. The SA SME Fund’s Ketso Gordhan told BizNews about the pitfalls of grant funding and said venture capital in South Africa was about driving costs down, but in South Africa it is geared to solving crucial societal problems. – Linda van Tilburg

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In August 2021, BizNews conducted a panel discussion with Professor Colleen Aldous, Dr Nathi Mdladla and Dr Pinky Ngcakani – all of whom are strongly in favour of ivermectin. The discussion was published on BizNews TV on YouTube and for a year, it managed to evade the YouTube censorship police. Last week, Results of a Prospective Observational Study of a Strictly Controlled Population of 88,012 Subjects showed that Regular Use of Ivermectin as Prophylaxis for COVID-19 led to a 92% Reduction in COVID-19 Mortality Rate in a Dose-Response Manner. First thing this morning, BizNews received notification of a strike on our BizNews TV YouTube channel on account of the ivermectin panel discussion, which was taken down. The timing appears too odd for coincidence. What may be more realistic is that the World Health Organisation, which is in close ‘cahoots’ with YouTube, is doing a sweep of all pro-ivermectin content. This is the original ivermectin panel discussion podcast.

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