Share

Belvedere scandal: The Anchor Capital connection

Update: Financial regulator the Financial Sector Conduct Authority has cleared businessman Cobus Kellermann of breaching any SA financial laws, bringing to an end a probe that kicked off in 2014.In November 2019 the regular announced that its inspection, which started under its predecessor the Financial Services Board (FSB) had found "no evidence of any breaches of the relevant South African financial sector laws".


By Alec Hogg

Johannesburg - Peter Armitage, top rated investment analyst, founder and CEO of the JSE’s go-go stock Anchor Capital, has distanced himself from the growing Cobus Kellermann/Clarus Asset Managers scandal.Armitage’s name along with his qualification (CA) and experience (20 years) appeared among hal f dozen “key people” on the Clarus Capital website. So on Saturday morning, when the original draft of my first article was completed, a copy was also sent to Armitage for comment. This was followed up by a phone call.By Sunday evening, Armitage’s name had been removed from the Clarus website. Indeed, on Monday morning the entire website was taken down.My association with Peter Armitage goes back many years. Before moving into money management, he worked in investor relations for my dear (late) friend David Carte. His sister, Lynn Trevella, was our head of technology in the very early years of Moneyweb.So when I asked about his relationship with the alleged Ponzi kingpin Cobus Kellermann and why he would agree to have his name associated so closely with the company, Armitage was frank: “I always found Cobus delightful. They asked if they could use my name in this way for marketing purposes. Anchor invests a lot of money (R300m) for Cobus’s company so I saw nothing wrong in this.”At my request, Armitage followed up on our conversation by clarifying with an emailed note which reads: “I believe Cobus owns Clarus Asset Management, which outsources the management of its funds to external asset managers, which I believe includes Efficient Group, Coronation, Contego, Atlantic and ourselves among others.

“Anchor Capital manages the equity and property funds (with a combined net asset value of around R300m) which have performed superbly over the last year. Clarus became a client of ours roughly a year ago. These funds are all run on the local Metropolitan platform, which is responsible for the custody and net asset value, unitisation etc.”He added: “Other than being an externally outsourced asset manager and Cobus (through his funds) being a client of Anchor Capital, neither Anchor Capital nor myself are or ever have been in business with Mr Kellermann.”

Anchor Capital was listed on the JSE in September 2014 after a private placing of shares at 200c. It now trades at almost six times that level.

Armitage-founded Anchor Capital has been one of the fastest rising shares on the JSE, trading at almost six times the price at which it was offered six months ago ahead of its listing. When it made its debut last September the two year old company was valued at what many believed was a rather rich R180m.Many have been bemused at the continued surge in the value of the small asset management business’s which at its current share price is worth a staggering R1.6bn. Especially after Armitage himself said the valuation was stretched when it was a third of the current level.

Interestingly, Armitage pointed out that Anchor Group also announced in the results this week that “we have acquired Contego Holdings, which has its own funds and also manages the Clarus Fund of Fund unit trusts on the same outsourced basis (these invest in the underlying unit trusts, some of which we manage, as explained above).“I can’t think of anything else. I have no knowledge of Cobus’s offshore operations.”

* For more in-depth business news, visit biznews.com or simply sign up for the daily newsletter.

UPDATE:

Since publication of the article above, several regulatory authorities have conducted investigations into the allegations of fraud and of a possible Ponzi scheme and have found as follows:

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission having reviewed their Enforcement Division’s report and accompanying evidence concluded that no further action will be taken and that their proceedings are at an end.

The US based Chartered Financial Analyst Institute stated, after reviewing the information available to them, that their Professional Conduct program decided to close its investigation and to take no disciplinary action, reserving the right to reopen the matter if new information comes to hand.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority found no evidence of any breaches of the relevant South African financial sector laws.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
19.09
-1.0%
Rand - Pound
24.05
-0.7%
Rand - Euro
20.58
-0.5%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.39
-0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.9%
Platinum
894.64
-0.3%
Palladium
992.99
-0.9%
Gold
2,197.50
+0.1%
Silver
24.44
-0.8%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
67,880
+0.3%
All Share
74,091
+0.3%
Resource 10
56,315
+1.2%
Industrial 25
103,611
+0.3%
Financial 15
16,459
-0.4%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders