MARC HASENFUSS: Positive ripples in black empowerment waters
Perhaps one should not get carried away yet, but the corporate bustle among some of the JSE’s most enduring empowerment companies could prove inspirational. Brimstone Investment Corp and African Empowerment Equity Investments (the old Sekunjalo Investments) are causing positive ripples with plans to separately list their respective fishing enterprises, Sea Harvest and Premier Fishing. Significant capital is being raised, collectively topping the R2bn mark. Trade union aligned Hosken Consolidated Investments has arguably already done this — but the separate listings of Niveus, Deneb, Montauk and eMedia were low-key affairs sans significant capital raising. Both Brimstone and AEEI companies launched in the mid-1980s as small investment companies funded largely by Western Cape community-based investors.
Unlike more illustrious empowerment groups, Brimstone and AEEI have endured. Brimstone’s share touched a low of 28c in 2001 when the company had “repaid” shareholders with a large...
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