FOUNDER
Altron’s Bill Venter retires from the board
Finding investors who have fond memories of Bill Venter and the Altron group of companies he founded is almost as slight as the long-term value created by the electronics and ICT group. Venter, who founded Altron 53 years ago as a 33-year-old telecoms engineer, formally retired on Tuesday as nonexecutive director. One of the JSE’s top 40 firms in its heyday, managerial missteps under Venter’s heirs, Robbie and Craig, eventually drove Altron, and its one-time listed subsidiary Altech, from the JSE’s blue-chip index before its recent resurrection at the hands of CEO Mteto Nyati. Nyati was appointed in July 2017 under the aegis of activist and anchor shareholder Value Capital Partners, which bought into Altron in 2016. "You always judge a firm by the legacy, so how come a ‘great’ company wasn’t able to withstand the test of time?" says veteran investor David Shapiro. While changes to its listed structure and the delisting and incorporation of Altech in 2013 have muddied comparisons som...
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