Wierzycka says: I ruffled feathers
• Co-founder takes back reins in May • I couldn’t let go
Sygnia co-founder Magda Wierzycka admits she “ruffled feathers” at the asset manager in which she and her family are majority shareholders after her unexpected return as executive chair less than two years ago led to a spate of resignations.
“With me coming back invariably I was going to ruffle feathers,” Wierzycka told Business Day in an interview from London, where she spends six months of the year. “Invariably, I came in there and said `guys this isn’t working for me and it’s not working on multiple fronts’.”
Wierzycka, whose family trust holds 59.9% of Sygnia, is set to take back the company’s reins on May 1 after the surprise resignation of David Hufton who steps down as sole CEO at endApril. Hufton’s resignation was announced in February with the official line being that he wanted to take a break after three decades in financial services. However, the strength of Wierzycka’s influence at the company may also have played a role.
Wierzycka has served as Sygnia’s executive chair since June 2021 after she made an unexpected return to the company a little more than two months after stepping down as Hufton’s co-CEO. At the time her return as executive chair was announced, Hufton had been sole CEO for just nine days — though Wierzycka insisted at the time her return would not undermine his leadership.
“Virtually all my wealth is tied up in Sygnia … and I couldn’t let go,” she now admits. “I tried to let someone else be the custodian of my wealth and I couldn’t let go. It’s not like I’m going to find a replacement for myself.”
In another surprise announcement Sygnia also recently backtracked on the appointment of former Denel CFO Carmen le Grange as its new financial director less than two months after naming her in the role. On March 31, Sygnia revealed that Le Grange was no longer able to assume the financial director role due to “personal reasons.”
Wierzycka did not want to elaborate on the apparent aboutturn but described it as a “nonissue,” reiterating that it was entirely due to Le Grange’s personal circumstances.
Le Grange’s appointment was first announced on February 10 as a replacement for Murad Sirkot, who resigned on January 31, the day after Sygnia’s annual general meeting. Sirkot, who was Sygnia’s financial director from January 2019 to March 2023, has since rejoined Ninety One, where he previously worked as head of finance from January 2006 to December 2018 when the firm was still known as Investec Asset Management.
While Wierzycka says a new financial director at Sygnia will be announced in due course she has since brought back systems architect Joseph Potgieter from November 2022 while Niki Giles, Sygnia’s former chief operating officer from 2006 to 2018, is set to return to the company in May.
Sygnia also recently lost Duane Naicker, who headed the firm’s umbrella retirement fund for almost seven years from June 2016 to March 2023. On
April 1, Naicker returned to Alexforbes, where he will head retirement solutions and business development, after spending almost a decade at the multimanager from September 2006 to May 2016.
Wierzycka also told Business Day she abandoned plans to launch a venture capital fund to help SA universities commercialise their intellectual property (IP) in much the same way as
Oxford University has done with Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI). The plan was t revealed to Business Day in June 2021 with Wierzycka saying she hoped to raise up to R1bn to invest in projects alongside SA universities and other research institutes.
“[There was] lack of sufficient support from institutional investors in SA to make it viable,” said Wierzycka.