Watch: SA still better than its peers, say CEOs

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Watch: SA still better than its peers, say CEOs

3:07 CAT | 06 Oct 2016

File photo / JSE chairwoman Nku Nyembezi-Heita

Political stability and SA’s slow growth were particular concerns for the US investors who attended this week’s SA Tomorrow investor conference in New York, but many still see SA as a reasonably good story, relative to the other emerging markets in which they invest.

This is according to CEOs who attended the conference, which is in its fourth year and this year attracted unprecedented interest from South African corporates and US fund managers.

The CEOs of 28 listed South African companies attended, with a combined market value of R4-trillion, while about 150 US investors attended, representing a total of $2-trillion under management, including from top funds such as Wellington, Lazard and Fidelity.

“This was the A Team of investors,” said Standard Bank joint CEO Sim Tshabalala.

JSE chairwoman Nku Nyembezi-Heita said investors raised questions about SA’s political stability, and particularly about the person of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, and there were a lot of questions regarding institutional strength. The biggest concern was growth.

However, Nyembezi-Heita said: “The fact that CEOs were projecting an air of confidence about the future and appeared to be running their businesses, and by all accounts succeeding, was a very important message.”

Fiscal consolidation and the state-owned enterprises seemed to be less of a concern than at the conference in 2015, she said.

But one South African CEO said some US investors were growing tired of SA returning year after year with the same promises of structural reform, which was not happening.