Christo Wiese has no regrets even after Brexit burn
Johannesburg/London — South African billionaire Christo Wiese navigated the upheavals of apartheid and the creation of a free nation over more than five decades to build a $6bn personal fortune. He moved to diversify last year after the sale of his biggest holding. The investment company in which he is the top shareholder, Brait, plowed £1.6bn into Britain at exactly the wrong moment: the UK was on the threshold of its vote to exit the EU, an outcome that hammered the pound. Wiese’s 35% stake in Brait has slumped by about $1bn since Brexit. "The timing on these trades was really unfortunate," said Louis Gargour, chief investment officer of London-based LNG Capital, an alternative investment-management firm that invests in distressed debt and has been looking at bonds of British retailers. Wiese’s predicament is hardly unique. Emerging-market investors who could once have counted on safeguarding assets in developed markets may have to think again in the post-Trump, post-Brexit era. W...
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