South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation has promoted its chief
investment officer, Daniel Matjila, to the position of Chief Executive,
the country’s finance minister has announced.
State-owned PIC, with $139 billion under management, is Africa’s
biggest and most powerful fund manager. And its new CEO Daniel Matjila
has been regarded as highly influential, prior to his latest appointment
as the corp’s boss.
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene described Matjila, who joined the PIC
in 2003, as “a strategic thinker who has extensive knowledge of and
experience in asset management and investment”.
Resignation of Former PIC Boss
The PIC has been without a permanent chief executive since May when
Elias Masilela abruptly resigned. Masilela, who had been in the role
since 2011, never provided an explanation for his decision. Under him
the Fund moved from investing in only South Africa to buying stakes
around the continent.
In 2013 it acquired 1.5 percent of Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s largest
listed company, in a deal valued at $289.3 million. Before that, the
fund manager also bought 19.58 percent of pan-African bank, Ecobank
Transnational. The transaction was worth $250 million.
PIC’s Enormous Influence
The PIC has also been very active in flexing its investment muscle as
JSE’s biggest investor on the course of companies in which it has a
stake. The wealth fund also uses its influence as a top shareholder in
several companies to advocate for greater black representation amongst
company executives and shareholders. This is in line with its mandate to
contribute in the redress of the huge economic imbalances created by
apartheid and colonialism.
The Financial Times reports that the PIC was a key critic of Cynthia
Carroll when she was chief executive of Anglo American, a company in
which it holds the single largest shareholding, and is understood to
have actively pushed for her ouster before she resigned in 2012. The
fund is also reported to have aggressively and successfully led
resistance to a $1.2 billion bid by Chile’s CFR Pharmaceuticals to
acquire Adcock Ingram, a struggling South African firm.
However, the PIC has also been criticised for being influenced by
political motivations, rather than acting purely in the interests of
pension funds.
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