This lady’s not scared of turning
ANTHONY CLARK: Why Sygnia (ex)changed its mind
Sygnia founder Magda Wierzycka has pulled off a coup by buying into exchange traded funds
Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher once said of herself, "the lady’s not for turning," in response to an appeal for her to make a U-turn on her economic policy. Sygnia founder and CEO Magda Wierzycka, a feisty market disrupter in the SA asset management space, was at one time known for her lack of interest in exchange traded funds, or ETFs. (Though this had more to do with the costs and layers of fees associated with these funds than the ETFs themselves). The lady, it seemed, was not for turning on this matter. However, Wierzycka made her own U-turn when the chance presented itself to acquire SA’s leading and highly profitable DBX ETF platform, sold off by Deutsche Bank as part of its global realignment. SA’s Polish, blonde Iron Lady had pulled off a coup. In one swoop, Sygnia gained a leading platform, a new product line, R11.3bn of new assets, 6,000 retail clients and a business that made R38m in after-tax profit to add to the R72m Sygnia made in 2016. At a cost of R325m, a p:e of under ...
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