Ghost Stories

By The Finance GhostBusiness Entrepreneurship Investing

Ghost Stories episodes

May 08, 2024 Ghost Stories Ep38: Chasing Returns from the Sun (Tivon Loubser, Fund Manager Twelve B at Grovest)
Tivon Loubser is all about chasing the sun - and generating investment returns from solar projects. Thanks to South Africa's ongoing need for renewable energy projects of every size, there are tax benefits available to investors for doing this. We unpack the opportunity in this podcast.
The podcast is brought to you by Twelve B Fund Managers, a private equity fund entitling tax payers to invest in a portfolio of renewable energy generating assets and benefit from the recently gazetted 125% 12BA wear and tear allowance. After successfully closing Fund I, and deploying all the raised capital in the previous financial year, Twelve B Fund II is open for investment. The fund will close at the earlier of R100m or 30 June 2024.
Please do your own research, discuss this with your independent financial advisor, and if you would like to set up a meeting with the Twelve B team, or would like more information, visit the Twelve B or Grovest websites.
Twelve B Fund Managers (Pty) Ltd is an approved juristic representative of Volantis Capital Proprietary Limited, an Authorised Financial Services Provider FSP No 49836.
31 min
May 07, 2024 Ghost Stories Ep37: Investing in Private Credit (Reginald Labuschagne, Sanlam Private Wealth | Harris Gorre, Grovepoint Investment Management))
The world is increasingly focusing on private market opportunities and the benefits that they bring to a portfolio strategy. Whether equity or credit in nature, there are reasons to seriously consider the inclusion of private assets in a wealth strategy.
In this podcast, Reginald Labuschagne (Head of Product and Strategy at Sanlam Private Wealth) and Harris Gorre (Partner at Grovepoint Investment Management) bring considerable experience to a discussion on private investment strategies and where they can be used in client portfolios.
You can connect with Reginald on LinkedIn here. More information on Sanlam Private Wealth can be found here.
More information on Grovepoint Investment Management (including the GIM Liquid Private Credit shares listed on the JSE: GIMPLC) can be found on the group website here.
Sanlam Private Wealth (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2000/023234/07, is a licensed Financial Services Provider (FSP 37473), a registered Credit Provider (NCRCP1867) and a member of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange ('SPW').
Nothing in this podcast should be taken as advice. You must always do your own research on opportunities and speak to your financial advisor.
53 min
May 05, 2024 Ghost Stories Ep36: Using bond ETFs in a portfolio (with Siyabulela Nomoyi of Satrix)
When planning your wealth creation journey, it helps to understand all the tools available in the toolbox. Bond ETFs remain poorly understood by many investors, leading to portfolio strategies that don’t include fixed income investments.
In this podcast with Siyabulela Nomoyi of Satrix*, we put the spotlight on bond ETFs. We covered topics like the relationship between interest rates and capital values, the way in which these ETFs add value to a portfolio and the macroeconomic conditions that can lead to good outcomes here.
There’s so much to listen to in this podcast, underpinned by Satrix’s commitment to South African investor education. To find out more about SatrixNOW, visit this link>>>

*Satrix is a division of Sanlam Investment Management
(this article was first published here)
33 min
April 18, 2024Ghost Stories Ep35: The Global Accelerator (with Japie Lubbe, Structured Products at Investec)
The Global Accelerator offers 100% capital protection in dollars at maturity after five years, while giving exposure to global equity indices.
To explain how it all works, Japie Lubbe of Investec Structured Products joined me on this podcast and covered the following topics:
The design of the underlying equity basket
The use of “insurance” in an equity portfolio and how this can be understood in the context of more familiar concepts like car and home insurance
The upside of the Global Accelerator, both on an accelerated basis and a capped basis
The payoff of this product vs. buying an ETF that tracks a similar equity index, with specific reference to how dividends work
Building blocks of the Global Accelerator in terms of company structure and the various instruments used
Fees involved and how they compare to unit trusts
The liquidity available over the five-year period
How a debt instrument is used to provide capital protection and understanding the credit risk associated with this debt instrument.
Applications close 21 May 2024.
As always you must do your own research and speak to your financial advisor before investing in a product like this. You can find all the information you need on the Investec website at this link.
36 min
April 03, 2024 Ghost Stories Ep34: Diving into Digital Assets and Fintech (with Wiehann Olivier and Mia Pieterse of Mazars)
There’s a lot more to blockchain technology than just the latest Bitcoin or Ether price. After the boom of NFTs and all kinds of other things during the pandemic, things clearly cooled off in this space - and for the better. In the meantime, corporates and entrepreneurs are busy in the background on tokenisation of assets to create digital assets.
In a digital economy, digital assets are important.

The Fintech space is more widely understood. But again, it goes beyond just a payments solution on your wrist or your phone. As the world becomes increasingly cashless, there’s a lot of innovation in the financial space.

To unpack these areas in more detail and to understand how use cases are developing, I was joined by Wiehann Olivier (Partner and Head of Fintech & Digital Assets at Mazars) and Mia Pieterse (Partner and Fintech Specialist at Mazars).
You can connect with Wiehann on LinkedIn at this link and Mia on LinkedIn at this link.
About Mazars
Mazars is an internationally integrated partnership, specialising in audit, accountancy, advisory and tax services. Operating in over 100 countries and territories around the world, they draw on the expertise of more than 50,000 professionals - 33,000 in Mazars' integrated partnership and 17,000 via the Mazars North America Alliance - to assist clients of all sizes at every stage in their development.
To find out more about Mazars in South Africa, visit:
Website: www.mazars.co.za
Facebook: MazarsSouthAfrica
X: @Mazars_SA
LinkedIn: Mazars in South Africa

26 min
April 02, 2024Ghost Stories Ep33: Artificial, or Artificial Intelligence? (with Nico Katzke of Satrix)
Nico Katzke of Satrix* returns to Ghost Stories to talk about the latest buzzword of the moment: Artificial Intelligence (AI). This topic has been dominating market headlines for a while now and it poses both opportunities and risks.

In this podcast, we discuss:
The way in which some people run towards hype and others run in the opposite direction – talking to the different investor personalities in the market.
Whether the development of cloud computing and SaaS can teach us anything about the risk of being too sceptical about AI.
The energy demands of AI and what this could mean for renewable energy.
What AI technology is and what it is not – and why the term may well be an example of great marketing more than anything else.
Our preferred ways to get exposure to this theme in our portfolios.
There’s so much to listen to in this podcast, underpinned by Satrix’s commitment to South African investor education. To find out more about SatrixNOW, visit this link>>>

*Satrix is a division of Sanlam Investment Management
(this article was first published here)
30 min
March 07, 2024Ghost Stories Ep32: The Investec Nikkei 225 Autocall
Brian McMillan of the Structured Products team at Investec is back on Ghost Stories, this time to talk about the Investec Nikkei 225 Autocall.
This product is designed to give investors exposure to the Nikkei 225 index over a period of up to five years with an enhanced return of up to 17% per annum in ZAR or 11.5% per annum in USD. Importantly, there is 100% capital protection provided the index does not drop by more than 30%.

To help you understand this opportunity, the topics covered include:
The history of the Nikkei 225 over the past three decades and how it became ignored by investors, with the narrative having improved significantly in recent times.
Reasons why the Nikkei 225 could be a compelling investment going forward.
The structure of an “autocall” product and exactly how it works over the time period of the instrument.
The way the upside works on this instrument, with a fixed return provided the index closes above the starting level.
The underlying credit risk in the instrument.
The liquidity in the note and the extent to which it is tradeable during the term.
The minimum investment amount required and how the fees work.
Confirmation of the types of investors allowed to participate.
The investment tranche is available until the 5th of April 2024.

As always you must do your own research and speak to your financial advisor before investing in a product like this. You can find all the information you need on the Investec website at this link.
25 min
February 23, 2024Ghost Stories Ep31: The ETF product design process (with Siyabulela Nomoyi of Satrix)
In this episode of Ghost Stories, Siyabulela Nomoyi returned to the platform once more to talk about two exciting product launches at Satrix.
Of course, The Finance Ghost couldn’t resist kicking off the show with a question around whether Siya stuck to his festive season savings goals that were discussed at the end of 2023 in a previous episode!
Moving on to all things ETF related, topics of discussion included:
How Satrix approaches the product design process.
An overview of the Satrix MSCI ACWI Feeder ETF and specifically how it differs from the MSCI World Index in giving efficient exposure to developed and emerging markets.
An overview of the Satrix JSE Global Equity ETF and how this gives investors an opportunity to tilt their portfolios towards locally-listed companies with more international exposure.
Related to the Satrix JSE Global Equity ETF, an important discussion on JSE index harmonisation.
Variability in ETF costs and what the building blocks of those costs are.
There’s so much in here, underpinned by Satrix’s commitment to South African investor education. To find out more about SatrixNOW, visit this link>>>
Disclosure
Satrix Investments (Pty) Ltd is an approved FSP in term of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS). The information does not constitute advice as contemplated in FAIS. Use or rely on this information at your own risk. Consult your Financial Adviser before making an investment decision.
While every effort has been made to ensure the reasonableness and accuracy of the information contained in this podcast (“the information”), the FSP’s, its shareholders, subsidiaries, clients, agents, officers and employees do not make any representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or suitability of the information and shall not be held responsible and disclaims all liability for any loss, liability and damage whatsoever suffered as a result of or which may be attributable, directly or indirectly, to any use of or reliance upon the information.
25 min
February 21, 2024Ghost Stories Ep30: Turning Tax into Solar Power (with Deon Lewis and James Rothmann of Futureneers)
Deon Lewis (co-founder of Futureneers) and James Rothmann (Projects Director and Tax Innovation Officer at Futureneers) joined The Finance Ghost to talk about the 12BA Renewable Energy Partnership and the opportunity it offers investors for a tax-enhanced investment in solar.
On this podcast, we talked about topics including:
The background of Futureneers and the investment track record.
The return profile of the solar projects both with and without the tax benefits.
The way the tax works further down the line when there’s a potential sale of the project.
Whether this opportunity is relatively more attractive for potential investors who are in higher tax brackets.
The protections in place for investors.
For more information on Futureneers and to apply for this opportunity, you can follow this link.
As always, ensure that you do your own research and consult with your financial advisor. The Finance Ghost has no affiliation with Futureneers or involvement in the underlying investments and does not accept any responsibility for the financial returns. Futureneers is a registered Financial Services Provider (FSP 46996) and registered Section 12J Venture Capital Company.
22 min
February 20, 2024 Ghost Stories Ep29: Balancing the Budget Speech (with Tertius Troost of Mazars in South Africa)
This is a big year for South Africa. Load shedding returned literally straight after the State of the Nation Address, creating a difficult foundation for the Budget Speech. The headlines are full of political activity in the build-up to elections. There's a lot going on.
Tertius Troost is in the Tax Consulting team at Mazars, so this is a busy month to say the least. He took time away from a hectic February tax diary to share insights as a preview to the Budget Speech.
Why is this important? Well, as a South African, the Budget Speech directly impacts you in many different ways, ranging from direct changes to your taxes to the way in which your taxes are spent in the country. It's critical to understand the key pressure points for our fiscus.

You can connect with Tertius on LinkedIn here.
22 min

About Ghost Stories

From the publisher's feed

Ghost Stories is a long-form podcast that gives me the opportunity to have deeper conversations with founders, executives and market participants who have a great story to tell.