{"id":772452,"date":"2024-05-17T09:50:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T07:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=772452"},"modified":"2024-05-17T10:22:21","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T08:22:21","slug":"rolex-joins-the-list-of-companies-exiting-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/772452\/rolex-joins-the-list-of-companies-exiting-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Rolex joins the list of companies exiting South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Rolex has closed its affiliate office in Sandton, Johannesburg, adding to the growing list of international companies that are scaling back or exiting South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/rolex-shuts-south-african-office-after-76-years-20240517\">News24<\/a>, the luxury Swiss watch manufacturer is closing its office because the local markets and conjuncture have changed, no longer warranting the presence of an official Rolex affiliate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite planning to close its office in Sandton in June, the group&#8217;s products will still be available via its official retailer network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, Rolex joins a long list of international companies that have recently made headlines for exiting the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shell plans to sell its downstream business in South Africa, which includes 600 petrol stations in the country, as part of a broader restructuring. The group will still, however, operate its upstream business across the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-businesstech wp-block-embed-businesstech\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"rvHhp7xTPh\"><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/771598\/investors-vote-with-their-feet-ceo\/\">Investors vote with their feet: CEO<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Investors vote with their feet: CEO&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/771598\/investors-vote-with-their-feet-ceo\/embed\/#?secret=VOI6YfTktf#?secret=rvHhp7xTPh\" data-secret=\"rvHhp7xTPh\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover, BNP Paribas, the sixth largest bank in the world, is no longer conducting the business of a bank via a branch in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The French bank&#8217;s exit is also due to a restructuring. It is exiting non-core operations in Africa to focus on Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That said, BNP Paribas is still the owner of credit provider RCS, and little information has been provided on its proposed sale since it was reported in 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amidst takeover bids from rival BHP, Anglo American also plans to separate Anglo American Platinum (Amplats).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a slight positive, Anglo American still plans to maintain its shareholding in Kumba Iron Ore. BHP&#8217;s takeover bids would have seen Amplats and Kumba spun off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, BHP said that the move was not an indictment of South Africa but rather due to its commodity and portfolio needs, with the group primarily targeting Anglo American&#8217;s copper business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Positives and negative<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It should be noted that South Africa is still considered an attractive destination for many international investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PwC recently showed that South Africa had seen net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows (inflows minus outflows) most years since the global financial crisis of 2008. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amazon Web Services, for example, plans to invest R30 billion in South Africa over the next decade. The broader group is also opening a R4.5 billion head office in Cape Town and recently launched its online marketplace in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover, in the motor manufacturing space, VW is investing R4 billion into its Eastern Cape factory, with plans to add a third car to its production line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stellantis, the world&#8217;s third-largest automotive manufacturer by volume, will also open a new R3 billion manufacturing site in Nelson Mandela Bay in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-businesstech wp-block-embed-businesstech\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Uw4XA8iiT8\"><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/771985\/maserati-and-jeep-owner-launching-r3-billion-investment-in-south-africa\/\">Maserati and Jeep owner launching R3 billion investment in South Africa<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Maserati and Jeep owner launching R3 billion investment in South Africa&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/771985\/maserati-and-jeep-owner-launching-r3-billion-investment-in-south-africa\/embed\/#?secret=AfREtYB4Nh#?secret=Uw4XA8iiT8\" data-secret=\"Uw4XA8iiT8\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/772379\/nhi-fraud-and-corruption-how-looters-will-be-punished\/\">NHI fraud and corruption \u2013 how the law says looters will be punished<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Swiss watchmaker Rolex is set to close its Sandton office, but fears linked to international companies exiting South Africa may be overblown. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":772460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[19405,2318,11538,26,18304,3428,2407,11063,18530,9547],"class_list":["post-772452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-amplats","tag-anglo-american","tag-bnp-paribas","tag-headline","tag-kumba-iron-ore","tag-news24","tag-pwc","tag-rolex","tag-stellantis","tag-vw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772452"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":772469,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772452\/revisions\/772469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}