News & Insights

Citywire South Africa featured Mergence Investment Managers’ internal leadership appointments aimed at strengthening succession planning and driving long-term growth. The article highlights the promotion of Peter Takaendesa to Chief Investment Officer (CIO), reflecting the firm’s commitment to nurturing talent from within. These strategic changes reinforce Mergence’s focus on sustainable development, robust governance, and investment continuity.

Old Mutual’s share price jumped more than 10% on Friday following the news of fintech investor and actuary Jurie Strydom’s appointment as CEO designate to the group. Commenting on the development, Radebe Sipamla, co-portfolio manager at Mergence Investment Managers, said that there had been a lost opportunity for transformation as the past two appointments since the departure of Peter Moyo in 2019 had been white males. Nonetheless, the appointment of Mr Strydom should bring fresh perspective and be positive for the share rating.

Africa Private Equity News covers the transaction whereby Mergence Investment Managers has acquired select digital infrastructure assets in the high-end residential areas of Waterfall City. The investment is housed in the Mergence Infrastructure & Development Equity Fund II and significantly expands Mergence’s digital infrastructure platform. Key assets acquired include fibre to the home (FTTH) and long-haul fibre network. Chito Siame, Head: Private Equity at Mergence Investment Managers, is quoted in this piece.

Scalar International and Mergence Investment Managers in partnership have launched The Africa Decarbonisation Fund I that will invest in energy-efficient / decarbonisation projects in the private commercial and industrial (C&I) sector within SADC, with a focus on women- and youth-led SMEs. Scalar was selected as one out of five out of 48 impact investment managers for International Climate Finance Accelerator, powered by Accelerating Impact, which is a unique multi-year programme that supports managers who have strong, innovative climate investment strategies and are in process of fundraising. The fund’s target is to reduce 1 GT of carbon emissions by 2030; achieve energy efficiency in 30,000 buildings by crowding in investment of at least $100 million; and create 15,000 full-time jobs.

In the financial services publication, Money Marketing, Semoli Mokhanoi, Chief Commercial Officer at Mergence Investment Managers, contributes to the debate on transformation and DEI in the asset management sector. Both the 24Four DEI Index and the annual Alexforbes Transformation Survey note progress although, as Semoli points out, there is still some resistance to transformation, often stemming from “unconscious bias, entrenched networks, and traditional hiring practices that favour familiarity and legacy relationships”. 

Commenting on the retirement of longstanding Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie and his replacement by Graham Lee, Radebe Sipamla, co-portfolio manager at Mergence Investment Managers, said that the succession was in line with the group’s plans and should continue the strong growth momentum and drive the customer-centric culture at the bank. Nonetheless, there is work to be done in terms of transformation and promoting black talent to leadership roles.

Commenting on the retirement of longstanding Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie and his replacement by Graham Lee, Radebe Sipamla, co-portfolio manager at Mergence Investment Managers, said that the succession was in line with the group’s plans and should continue the strong growth momentum and drive the customer-centric culture at the bank. Nonetheless, there is work to be done in terms of transformation and promoting black talent to leadership roles.

Reporting on its financial results, MTN said that the post-paid, enterprise, wholesale, digital and fintech segments all recorded good growth with the pressure point being pre-paid. The group will spend ca R6bn in SA as it fights to regain market share. Albeit this capex figure is much lower than the previous year, Mergence head of equities, Peter Takaendesa, said MTN is likely to find it difficult to bounce back in SA pre-paid near term although there are no structural issues against MTN’s ability to regain share over the longer term.

Commenting on the task ahead of Absa CEO-designate, Kenny Fihla, Mergence co-portfolio manager Radebe Sipamla says that the bank’s digital offering remains a weakness despite huge capex in IT and technology. Another challenge will be to make the difficult cultural and strategic changes that the bank needs – which Fihla should be well equipped to do given his experience within corporates and government structures.

Commenting on News24 regarding the unexpected resignation on Sunday evening of Kenny Fihla from Standard Bank and his appointment as Absa CEO, Radebe Sipamla, co-portfolio manager at Mergence Investment Managers, believes that from a transformation perspective, it’s the right strategic move for Absa to make. The board will need to back Kenny fully to make difficult cultural and strategic changes at Absa that are necessary to ensure the business can navigate the rapidly changing banking environment in SA.