Joffe passes Bidcorp baton on to Koseff

BRIAN Joffe’s reign as chairman of Bid Corporation (Bidcorp) comes to an end next month after he announced his retirement from the board last week.

The entrepreneur has been at the forefront of the group and he pioneered its successful listing on the JSE in 2016 after unbundling it from the Bidvest Group.

Joffe will be replaced by outgoing Investec chief executive Stephen Koseff.

Koseff himself is no stranger to Bidcorp and is currently serving on the board as independent non-executive director.

Joffe will leave a lasting legacy that spans more than 30 years in the industry, which includes local and international commercial experience.

“Mr Koseff needs no introduction, having led a long and distinguished career as a founding member and chief executive of Investec Limited and Investec Plc, where he helped to steer that company to become an internationally recognised specialist bank and asset management group,” the group said.

Koseff brings in a wealth of experience, having served as chief executive of Investec since 1997.

He is well known in the banking industry, but has been a director of the Bidvest Group since 1997.

Koseff also announced last week that he would vacate his chief executive role at Investec in October.

Bidcorp operates in 37 countries, covering five continents across the globe, and last year it reported it had gained footprints in countries like Portugal, Germany and Malaysia.

The broadline food service group will present its half-year results to end December on Wednesday.

The unbundling from Bidvest was seen as a move to provide shareholders with the opportunity to participate directly in Bidcorp’s food service operations as well as enabling each of the businesses to achieve their respective strategic goals.

Bidcorp has an appetite for acquisitions, as its chief executive, Bernard Berson, made clear during the group’s results last year.

He said the group can tap as much as $1.2 billion (R13.9bn) for acquisitions. It has made no fewer than 10 acquisitions in the past 10 years.

Among its recent buys are the 90 percent acquisition of Guzmán Gastronomía and Cuttings, a leading national Spanish multi-temperature food service company.

In the results for the year to end June, Bidcorp reported revenue of R130.9bn while achieving a trading profit of R5.5bn.