Edcon’s "capital restructuring" provides another reminder that we should be more fussy about what investment we allow into this country. No doubt there are some people, perhaps many, who reckon there’s no such thing as unacceptable foreign investment. And that might be the case, if there were disciplines and controlsin place to ensure that once an investment comes into the country it is managed in a way that doesn’t leave the country much worse off.Bain Capital’s high-profile US$3.5bn buyout of Edcon has been an unmitigated disaster for SA. It’s difficult to imagine one single benefit the deal brought to the country. (Creating more employment for overpaid investment bankers does not count as a benefit.)But back in 2007 there was huge excitement about the biggest private equity deal SA had seen. It was deemed evidence we were a central part of the global investment community.It’s not just the realisation that, nine years later, we’re left with a shell of the old Edcon. This country h...
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