Financial Mail - Investors Monthly
Big moves for bright lights
Peter Armitage and Magda Wierzycka both had humble beginnings, writes Anthony Clark
Two charismatic figures in the JSE’s asset management hub have quietly shifted into the shadows in recent months.
In early February, midsize asset manager Anchor Group, founded and run by equity analyst and fund manager Peter Armitage, completed its sudden delisting from the JSE. This brought an end to a seven-year JSE listing. Anchor, feeling unloved by the market and with a lowly valuation, came to see the listing as nothing but a costly distraction and decided to become a private entity.
Then in late March, Sygnia co-founder and co-CEO Magda Wierzycka — in a low-key Sens notice — announced her departure from the co-management role of the specialist fund manager. She will remain as a nonexecutive director.
The Sygnia announcement caused no end of speculative ripples in the market, including some outlandish leaps of logic. The reality is far more mundane, and will see Sygnia focus on ever greater growth opportunities directed by a more media-demure Wierzycka. Essentially she will drive strategy and offshore growth.
Armitage and Wierzycka listed their businesses within a year of each other.
They have more in common than meets the eye. Both came from humble backgrounds and emerged through tenacity and sheer hard work to build two successful independent asset management businesses, with combined assets under management (AUM) of R328bn.
Wierzycka, 51, arrived in SA in 1983 with her parents and siblings as Polish immigrants with no English-language skills. Armitage, 52, grew up in Boksburg on the East Rand, where his father owned a caravan park.
Both saw the value of education as a stepping stone to betterment and both had colourful and successful careers at established financial institutions before they founded their own businesses.
Wierzycka became an actuary and in her early career had roles at Southern Life, then at Coronation Asset Management as head of institutional business. After leaving Coronation and working at African Harvest, she created what is now Sygnia Asset Management in 2006 with AUM of R2bn. Today Sygnia’s AUM is R252bn.
In his day as an equity analyst, Armitage was top rated by the FM in 21 equity sectors and was rumoured to be the first local analyst to be paid $1m a year.
He worked for several leading stockbrokers as well as Investec before founding Anchor Holdings in 2011 with zero funds under management.
Today it has AUM of R76bn, a healthy increase since its last results and exit from the JSE.
Anchor listed on the JSE in September 2014 at 200c a share. Sygnia followed in October 2015 at 840c a share. Now, all has changed.
What could be behind these sudden, coincidental decisions?
Both Wierzycka and Armitage were seen as “Marmite” characters by many market participants. You either like Marmite or you hate it.
Wierzycka, despite the success and growth of Sygnia over the years, is seen by many as a polarising figure.
Her outspoken stance on corruption and high asset management industry fees often distracted from the narrative around Sygnia’s strategy and growth prospects.
Wierzycka and her family own 64% of the R3bn JSE-listed company. Her departure from the co-CEO role was always on the cards and, to the observant, the signals have clearly been there.
The biggest clue came as early as 2016, when David Hufton — a well-regarded former Alexander Forbes executive — joined Sygnia as deputy CEO.
He and Wierzycka became joint CEOs in April 2020. It seemed clear that Wierzycka, who was spending more time in the UK building an embryonic Sygnia UK business, would eventually hand over the day-to-day running of Sygnia to Hufton.
In reality, Hufton had been managing Sygnia for much of the past year. Wierzycka, while still co-CEO and keeping tabs on strategic matters, was more of a trophy figure — wheeled out to gain new clients with her glamorous charm.
Anchor, with R65bn under management at the time of delisting, had grown since its IPO through aggressive marketing and a slew of bolt-on acquisitions. Anchor initially became a stock market darling, surging to a high of R18 two years after listing. That started to unravel in late 2015 and into 2016 after Anchor bought a stake in hedge fund manager
“The margin blend should continue to fatten as Sygnia launches three more specialist funds this year