There are few organisations in South Africa that know as much about state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as Futuregrowth Asset Management. Not only is it one of the biggest local lenders, but over the last two years it has been involved in ongoing, in-depth engagements with these organisations.
This followed the August 2016 announcement by chief investment officer Andrew Canter that Futuregrowth would not be lending any more money to six major SOEs until it had conducted governance reviews. This involved scrutinising issues such as the composition of boards and board committees, who had authority to authorise loans or tender contracts, and how new board members were appointed.
The efforts made by Futuregrowth and the results they have produced have been a very important lesson in the…
