A good week for Jannie Durand
If it’s an award for haggling skills, Jannie Durand, CEO of Remgro, unfortunately takes the exact opposite. But at least Mediclinic’s other shareholders walk away with something resembling a decent premium after their majority shareholder’s opening lowball insult. Still, well done to Durand and co for listening to the market outrage — it was hard to miss — and playing fair, finally. Remgro’s buyout of this once highly valued hospital stock is another step forward in the assault on the investment company’s large, but narrowing, discount to its NAV. It means the company may once again earn its status as investor portfolio stalwart.
A bad week for Dali Mpofu
When Dali Mpofu is not grandstanding, he imagines himself in a Western movie. “I was ambushed,” he proclaimed when a witness dropped an ace of spades to demolish his argument. Mpofu, defending suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane at her impeachment hearing in parliament, insisted that his client did not know the witness — until a photograph of the two together was presented. Even such a setback hardly took the wind out of Mpofu’s sails. After all, there is enough ad hominem hot air in him to billow a spinnaker or lift a big balloon.