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Brown, Futuregrowth meet on SOE funding call postponed

Cape Town - A meeting that was supposed to take place on Thursday between public enterprises minister Lynne Brown and the CEOs of Old Mutual and its subsidiary Futuregrowth was postponed until Tuesday 13 September due to logistics. 

Brown said on Tuesday that she intended to meet with the asset manager to get an understanding about the reasons why the asset manager decided to halt loans to six state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including Eskom.

Futuregrowth announced its decision in a media statement last week, citing perceived governance issues at SOEs, possible conflict between branches of government, and a challenge to the independence of Treasury as reasons for its decision.  

Futuregrowth’s announcement sparked criticism from the ANC, spheres of government as well as from its holding company Old Mutual and the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (Asisa) – the collective body for financial services companies and collective investment schemes. 

READ: Matthew Lester: Why pinning colours to mast of ‘State Capture’ outdated

On Tuesday at a roundtable discussion in Cape Town, Leon Campher, CEO of Asisa, said the body “questioned” the fact that Futuregrowth announced their funding freeze decision in the media. He was also concerned that Asisa’s name was mentioned in Futuregrowth’s press statement, saying it created the impression that Asisa had orchestrated the move. 

Ralph Mupita, CEO of Old Mutual Emerging Markets, echoed Campher’s sentiments, saying it was “unfortunate”. He added that Futuregrowth hadn’t informed Old Mutual of its decision to halt funding to some SOEs. 

Brown earlier said that she was willing to meet with asset managers who had doubts about the governance at SOEs to avoid similar unfortunate incidents in future. 

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