Star 2025-08-14

Nedbank splashes out all-cash deal in acquiring digital payments solutions service Nedbank Group plans to acquire 100% of fintech innovator iKhokha in an all-cash deal of about R1.65 billion, a significant move in Nedbank’s strategy to deepen its support for small and medium-sized enterprises through digital innovation and inclusive financial services. Founded in 2012, iKhokha has become a leading partner to many thousands of South African entrepreneurs, and shares the market with competitors such as Yoco and Capitec Pay. The company, founded by Matt Putman, Ramsay Daly, and Clive Putman, provides card machines, digital payment solutions, and business tools to SMEs, processing north of R20 billion annually in digital payments and other services. “This acquisition is a natural evolution of our existing relationship with iKhokha, and we are incredibly excited…

The Competition Tribunal hearing concerning the acquisition of the longstanding South African company Barloworld by Newco has ignited discussions around empowerment for historically disadvantaged persons as well as the company’s impending delisting from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). As the details unfolded on Wednesday, tensions rose over the implications of this significant transaction. Former executives in Barloworld are acquiring Barloworld through Entsha Proprietary Limited while Saudi Zahid Group is the other shareholder in Newco. With Newco intending to bump up its shareholding in the South African company, Barloworld will ultimately be delisted from the JSE. The merging parties through their legal representative told the Competition Tribunal hearing on Wednesday that the delisting of Barloworld was a major condition for the implementation of an Employee Share-Ownership Program (ESOP). After delisting, a…

Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), Parks Tau, has announced the revival of the Automotive Production Development Programme (APDP) in a bid to offset the impact of 30% tariffs imposed by the United States on South African imports. The programme seeks to increase local content by 5%, a change that could unlock R30 billion in new procurement for the industry, more than the R4.4bn US export market. Tau was speaking on the opening day of the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (NAACAM) 2025 show on Wednesday. “As the cornerstone of our manufacturing economy and contributing 5.2% to GDP and 22.6% of industrial output, this industry faces intersecting challenges that demand urgent collaboration,” Tau said. “Yet within these challenges lie transformative opportunities to redefine and leverage…

Professional services firm, EY, has reiterated the warning that the newly imposed 30% levy on South African exports to the United States could cause around 100 000 domestic job losses. South Africa faces a 30% rate, alongside peers like India (25%), Brazil (50%), Taiwan (20%), Switzerland (39%), Canada (35%), Mexico (18%), and Vietnam (22%). The tariffs, ranging from 10% to 41% on imports from 69 countries and effective from early August, will add to existing duties under Section 232 and the Inflation Reduction Act, overriding prior exemptions. According to the US Trade Representative, these measures signal a long-term pivot toward supply chain realignment and domestic reindustrialisation, unlikely to reverse soon. In its South African Macroeconomic Outlook for August released on Wednesday, EY said the agriculture and automotive sectors were expected…

In the quiet chaos of South Africa’s townships, where digital connectivity holds the promise of economic liberation, an insidious force has taken root, one borrowed from the dusty construction trenches but now entrenched in the corridors of fibre broadband rollouts. Enter the so-called “construction mafia”, a term once synonymous with hijacked building projects, now creeping dangerously into the ICT sector. At first glance, the broadband industry and concrete mixers seem worlds apart. But dig a little deeper, into the pavements where fibre must be trenched, the poles where wireless antennas must rise, and you’ll find eerie parallels. Where there is trenching, there is access to lucrative contracts. And where there is access to capital and opportunity, there is a criminal element lurking with a clipboard and a demand: “Give us…

South Africa’s renewable energy sector is scaling rapidly. From wheeled solar capacity serving Amazon and Tronox Mineral Sands to battery-packed IPP projects delivering reliable power at peak demand, this transformation is both technical and structural. However, alongside the deployment of solar PV and battery systems, a more deliberate transformation is underway: the advancement of female leaders across the energy value chain. In both public and private companies operating in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) spaces, leadership remains predominantly male with some progress in middle management. There are very few women in senior and executive positions in South Africa. Additionally, while the employment rate for women with tertiary qualifications in STEM fields has increased from 22.2% in 2014, it has only increased by a paltry 7% to 29.6% in…