Mining guru Peter Major dissects Sibanye-Stillwater’s $1bn dollar acquisition of the Santa Rita nickel mine and Serrote copper mine in Brazil. The acquisition, which is an inflection point in terms of Sibanye’s direction going forward, is aimed at targeting metals that will play an influential role in the ‘green’ economy of the future. Renowned deal-maker and Sibanye CEO, Neal Froneman, previously made his intentions clear on BizNews – and Tuesday’s shareholder conference call – that ‘green’ metals are commodities that will bear fruit for the diversified miner in the years to come. Major, however, has a different view. He’s concerned the ESG (environment, social and governance) mania has possibly pushed these metals to above fair value, suggesting Froneman may be overpaying for these assets. A similar theme played out at the end of the previous commodity boom, where miners were bullish on M&A activity, only to be left in the dust when the frenzy settled. 

Steven Nathan joins Alec Hogg to discuss the BizNews Share Portfolio, among other things. The Share Portfolio has been going for nearly seven years now, with the most recent addition being Aveng. Nathan comments on portfolio construction, giving his thoughts on structuring your investments. "You might be 30 years old [and] your retirement horizon is 35 years. Your objective is to say, when I hit 65, I want to have the biggest retirement pot possible, without being silly along the way." He also comments on Aveng, giving a brief overview of the company.

News headlines: *South Africa’s government delayed Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s maiden budget for a second time. *Former South Africa President Jacob Zuma lost his legal bid to have the state prosecutor in his corruption trial dismissed on the grounds that he wasn’t independent and impartial. *Eskom has announced that Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 09:00 on Tuesday until 05:00 on Saturday.

TreasuryOne’s Andre Cilliers leads this week’s currency focus with the ever-volatile rand remaining firm against all the major currencies. Central banks around the world are slowly starting to put a lid on the extremely accommodative monetary policy stance that has seen economies recover much faster than expected. These policy decisions – not only by the South African Reserve Bank but other central banks, too – will be critical in determining the direction in which the rand will head. Cilliers notes that the basket of emerging currencies as a whole are somewhat dependent on each other; the rand has been flavoured with Turkish delight as it cut its interest rate for the second straight meeting.  

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, David Shapiro on US tech shares, Ascendis Health, Bell Equipment and Sibanye Stillwater; DA's mayoral hopeful Dr Mpho Phalatse on her plans for Joburg should the party win back the city; Alex Gabriel, managing director of the Cape Town Opera discusses the business side of the organisation and coming back from the Covid-19 lockdown; and TreasuryONE's currency strategist Andre Cilliers unpacks the local and international currency movements for this past week.

Mpho Phalatse is the DA mayoral candidate for Johannesburg. Dr Phalatse joined Tim Modise to unpack the DA's plans for the city should they win the upcoming municipal elections. Phalatse told Modise that the DA did rule the city from 2017 to 2019, bringing change especially to queries with municipal billing.

News headlines: *South Africa faces an increased risk of power outages because maintenance needs to be carried out at deteriorating coal-fired power stations, the state energy utility said. *Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. opened the southern hemisphere’s largest general anaesthetics manufacturing line, adding production at the South African plant where it fills and packages the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. *A News24 investigation alleges that reporting systems implemented by former Eskom CEO Matshela Koko may have incentivised managers to under-report problems during his tenure to artificially inflate system performance – all to the detriment of the grid and possibly exacerbating the issues the power utility faces today.

Sasfin Securities David Shapiro shares his insight on developments taking place in local and international financial markets. Shapiro, who follows a growth-oriented investment style, has a busy week with a number of US tech giants releasing quarterly results over the next few days. He says he’ll be keeping a close eye on the likes of Amazon and Facebook, both for different reasons. In the local market, small-cap stocks Ascendis Health and Bell Equipment dominate the conversation. The Bell family’s lowball offer to shareholders, which was made at a 40% discount to its share price prior to the announcement, is discussed at length. After two years at the helm of Ascendis, Mark Sardi has announced his resignation following shareholders’ approval of the restructuring deal that will most likely see the health and wellness group depart the JSE. Lastly, ways to manage your portfolio during a high inflationary environment wrap up the interview.

David Lerche, head of equities at Sanlam Private Wealth, shares his views on another big SA success story, telco MTN.

Described as magnificent and inspiring by esteemed voices across the world, the Cape Town Opera is an institution Capetonians and South Africans alike can be proud of. The winners of the 2013 International Opera Awards ‘Chorus of the Year’, it is the continent’s premier opera company and one of SA’s largest permanent non-profit performing arts organisations. Joining me to discuss the business side of the organisation is Alex Gabriel, Managing Director.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, a second insert in two days from Dr Frans Cronje, this time focusing on what the Polls are telling us will happen in SA's November local elections; Joburg's ANC Mayor Mpho Moerane shares his plans for the city going forward - should he retain the position; Investment heavyweights Piet Viljoen and Jean-Pierre Verster shares their insights; and in a special insert from our partners at the Financial Times of London, chief international writer Gideon Rachman travels to America to interview Yale Prof Paul Kennedy for insights into how the global superpower confrontation - US v China - is likely to pan out.

News headlines: * South Africa has recorded a daily average of just 637 new Covid-19 cases over the past week. The last time the country saw levels of infection this low was during the early stages of the pandemic in May 2020. * Scientists around the world are closely tracking a descendent of the highly infectious Delta variant that has been found in both the UK and the US. * Hours after announcing it had reached a landmark wage agreement with striking sector workers, Seifsa postponed a media briefing on the matter, saying a new date and time would be announced.

Counterpoint money manager Piet Viljoen talks us through what was a busy week for local and international markets. Viljoen – rational as always – talks highly of Bernard Swanepoel, a decorated mining executive who was recently appointed to the board of debt-laden construction company Aveng. He believes Swanepoel’s in-depth mining experience will be invaluable to Aveng as the mining industry is one of its primary drivers of revenue. The global energy crunch is also discussed, with Viljoen bullish on counters within the sector owing to constrained supply as a result of underinvestment in the industry. The different investment styles, such as growth vs value investing, is also touched on, with Viljoen outlining that there is more than one way to skin a cat when managing money. 

One of South Africa’s leading asset managers Jean-Pierre Verster shared insight into South Africa’s food retailers from an investment angle. The big four food retailers – Shoprite, Woolies, Spar and Pick n Pay – are some of the country’s most well-known brands. Pick n Pay was the first retailer to announce results following the July riots, with the unrest and associated costs negatively affecting its bottom line. Verster notes that a higher inflationary environment will hurt food retailers, leaving those with competitive advantages and pricing power better positioned to profit in the future. Spar’s international expansion is discussed, with it having diversified into rather unknown territories. Lastly, Verster explains he is struggling to find value given the lofty valuations in the sector.

Mayor Mpho Moerane has been in office since the beginning of October after the deaths of his predecessors Geoff Makhubo and Jolidee Matongo. The newly appointed mayor has been open about his wishes for the city of Johannesburg and as local government elections draw closer and closer, Moerane remains dedicated to fulfilling his duty. In a recent interview, he outlined multiple initiatives and plans that he has or will implement despite the short time before local government elections. From bolstering the electrical supply in Johannesburg to improving law enforcement, Mayor Moerane has promised to do as much as he can for the city. Despite the litany of issues that plague Johannesburg, Moerane remains optimistic these issues can be remedied. *Image published courtesy of joburg.org.za

Mishal Patel, Sable International's British and nationality expert, joins Bronwyn Nielsen of BizNews to shed light on the intricacies of obtaining British citizenship. Patel specialises in isolating claims to British nationality for those who have connections to former British Territories, those who are resident in the UK, and those adopted by British citizens. In the discussion, he touches on the impact Brexit has had on the process, as well as the challenges faced by parents looking to secure citizenship for their adopted children.

Brenthurst Wealth founder Magnus Heystek comes to us from Mauritius, a destination he believes provides an opportunity from an investment perspective. Much like South Africa, Mauritius is dependent on tourism and, as a result, the economy has suffered during the coronavirus pandemic. However, Heystek paints a picture of an economic revival, with the island slowly coming out of the pandemic stronger. Heystek also touches on the contradictory statements of JSE CEO Leila Fourie, who told the investment community about the data coming out of the bond market. Heystek believes this is of serious concern because of its importance as an investment indicator. 

Dr Frans Cronje, who recently retired after 18 years at the Institute for Race Relations, visited KZN last week to get a first hand look at what remains in the aftermath of July's riots. It confirmed his thesis that South Africa is breaking into smaller units. In the best cases, communities which stood togewther during the anarchy are stepping into the vacuum left by Pretoria. In others, the riots have literally destroyed what were once thriving towns. Cronje also shares his interpretation of the latest polls ahead of the November 1 elections, projecting continued losses for the ANC and DA, little change for the EFF and significant increases in the share of the vote for smaller parties like Action SA, FF+ and the IFP.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, the IRR's former CEO Dr Frans Cronje reports back after a four day road trip through small town KZN which has changed drastically since the July riots; Magnus Heystek connects from Mauritius, seeing plenty of growth in his two year absence; Jaltech co-founder Gaurav Nair unpacks the innovative cryptocurrency vehicle which offers the security of being regulated; and SVI Engineering’s Nicol Louw on the boom in bullet proof vehicles, a consequence of the July riots.

News headlines: * The University of Cape Town (UCT) council has approved in principle a proposal to make Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for both staff and students. * The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa has reiterated that voters will not be expected to provide proof of Covid-19 vaccination to cast their ballots in the upcoming municipal elections. * Evergrande Group's deal to sell a majority stake in its property services unit has been put on hold, adding to the Chinese property developer's precarious position. The embattled firm, which faces more than $300 billion in debt, was in talks to sell 51% of its stake in Evergrande Property Services to a smaller rival for around $2.6 billion.

South Africa is known for sunny skies, glorious scenery…and as the hijacking capital of the world. As South Africans become wearisome, many are looking at alternative ways to protect themselves and their assets in crime-riddled SA. Once the reserve of VIPs and politicians, bulletproofing is slowly becoming mainstream. BizNews Motoring correspondent Jarryd Neves spoke to SVI Engineering’s Nicol Louw, to gain insight into this growing industry.

The UK-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism has been looking into activity in the South African tobacco industry. In this interview, the Bureau's international editor James Ball joins Alec Hogg to unpack episode six of Smoke Screen, where the action turns deadly.

Jaltech co-founder Gaurav Nair shared his insight into regulated cryptocurrency products, the first of its kind in South Africa. It has been the Achilles heel of all financial advisers in recent months, with the rise in popularity of crypto. However, the financial services watchdog in South Africa – the FSCA – has stated on several occasions that the asset class is not regulated in South Africa. Although, it has announced its intentions for this to change in time. Jaltech has created a financial instrument that gives investors exposure to either bitcoin, ether or a diversified basket of cryptocurrencies in a regulated environment, a solution to a problem faced by many financial advisers. The rest of the details and fees are outlined during the conversation. 

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Action SA's confident leader Herman Mashaba explains how his previous stint as Joburg's Mayor prepared him to identify and eject the Metro's ANC saboteurs; The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s Global Editor James Ball unpacks episode 6 of Smoke Screen where the action turns deadly; NWU's Professor Ronnie Lotriet and NW Chamber of Commerce CEO André Coertzen expose how Chinese Mafia-imported and funded illegal immigrants have cartelised business in the province's small towns; and Renergen CEO - Stefano Marani on the creation of a spot market for helium.

In the 2016 local elections, successful entrepreneur Herman Mashaba was the surprise victor in the majoral race, after being drafted into politics on a Democratic Alliance ticket. On November 1, he swaps the DA's blue for Action SA's green - standing as the candidate for the political party he founded in the aftermath of his period in office being cut back by internal disputes with the DA. After months of campaigning while his rivals were occupied elsewhere, Mashaba is confident of victory - and says he will be far better prepared this time to deal with the saboteurs who aborted his anti-corruption; pro-efficiency project first time around. This is the first of the BizNews interviews with the three major contenders who hope to secure the mayoral chain in South Africa's biggest and richest city.