A good week
Sure, you’re going to hear a lot of grumbling from Distell’s minority investors, but well done to CEO Richard Rushton for thrashing out a deal at a share price that Distell may not have seen for a while on its own steam. Heineken’s R40.1bn takeover bid is also testament to Rushton’s efforts to transform a somewhat lumbering drinks group into an asset that Heineken was keen to buy, SA risk and all. And it may end up being that rare M&A beast: a decently priced merger where two is better than one.
A bad week
In the world of ethical relativism that Julius Malema occupies, it’s possible that the EFF leader never really has a bad week at all. Bank scams, adverse tax judgments, gun-toting supporters — it’s all just learning curve fodder for SA’s populist demagogue-in-chief. But how the Independent Electoral Commission has nothing to say about the EFF’s R1.8m Mercedes-Benz "gift", delivered unto the "the appreciative hands" and voting vigour of AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, really is beyond us.