IS RESILIENT PANICKING?

In the past few weeks, the four companies in the Resilient stable have seen their stock shed R103bn. Is this reaction justified?

Des de Beer, the former Nedbank executive who has become one of the wealthiest South Africans with a fortune of more than R4bn, is feeling the heat. Over the past couple of weeks, market talk was that hedge funds had taken sizeable short positions in the

Resilient companies, essentially betting that its complex web of companies was simply a house of cards.

The market was spooked and the stock of the four Resilient companies — Resilient, Nepi Rockcastle, Fortress and Greenbay — tumbled by R103bn in all.

For De Beer’s bank account, it’s been brutal. The plunge in Resilient’s stock (down 33%) and Nepi Rockcastle (down 41%) means his stake in the two companies has fallen by a combined R2.26bn.

De Beer tells the Financial Mail he isn’t worried. “The money thing, I try to lead a fairly humble life, so money is almost not relevant. My children drive second-hand cars. I try not to worry about it,” he says. Well, sure. And he does have R4bn left, at least.

But from the outside, it seems Resilient is rattled by what’s happening — so rattled, in fact, that it published a stock exchange announcement this week challenging a research report that hardly anyone had seen.

That short 4-page report, by brokerage Navigare, sought to investigate the true value of the Resilient companies. “The Resilient stable has an intertwined structure where about 50% of Resilient and 60% of Fortress’s market cap could be ascribed to listed investments,” it says.

Getting a handle on all the cross-holdings between the companies can be dizzying. So, Resilient holds

The regulatory authorities seem more seized with nailing Viceroy than doing terribly much else