{"id":819409,"date":"2025-04-03T08:50:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T06:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=819409"},"modified":"2025-04-03T08:50:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T06:50:12","slug":"south-africas-most-powerful-corporation-and-its-bee-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/819409\/south-africas-most-powerful-corporation-and-its-bee-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s most powerful corporation and its BEE drive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) owns large stakes in most big South African companies, making it the country’s most powerful organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIC is wholly owned by the South African Government, with the Minister of Finance as shareholder representative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its history starts in 1911 when the Public Debt Commissioners were founded to manage government debt and invest the government and SA Railways and Harbours\u2019 trust funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1924, it had taken on the provincial administrators’ funds and managed loans to local governments in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pension funds managed by the government would allow the government to borrow against those funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1984, the organisation was transformed into the Public Investment Commissioners, moving its focus from debt to investment management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 1 April 2005, following the promulgation of the Public Investment Corporation Act, 2004, the PIC transformed into a modern asset manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIC also changed from a government department under the Treasury to a state-owned corporate entity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIC\u2019s role is to grow and safeguard the assets entrusted to its care and explore avenues through which its investment interventions can benefit South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entities on behalf of which the PIC invests funds include pension, provident, social security, and guardian funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most significant are the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), and the Associated Institutions Pension Fund (AIPF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also serves the Compensation Commissioner Pension Fund and the Compensation Commissioner Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of its mandate, it financed 64,935 houses, it funded 41 farms, and invested R4.1 billion in the transport and logistics sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It further supported 3,353 small and medium-sized enterprises and funded 2,420 MW of renewable energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the largest asset manager in South Africa, with R2.693 trillion in assets under management (AUM).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government Employee Pension Fund accounts for 88% of the assets under management, and the UIF accounts for 6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest is split between the Compensation Commissioner Fund, the Compensation Commissioner Pension Fund, the Associated Institutions Pension Fund, and other clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIC is very powerful and influential<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The PIC is a large shareholder in most big companies in South Africa, which makes it very influential in the local business arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the government can use the PIC to enforce its black economic empowerment (BEE) policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIC stated that a minimum of 98% of its total brokerage fees were allocated to firms with a B-BBEE rating of levels one to three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It further said that 70% of its brokerage fees were allocated to firms that are 51% black-owned or 30% management-controlled by previously disadvantaged groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said that it drives racial and gender transformation within its investee companies by way of proxy voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that the PIC can vote on behalf of its beneficiaries as shareholders of the different companies it invests in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIC’s beneficiaries, the government employees, give their vote to the PIC, by way of a proxy, to vote on their behalf within the companies the PIC invests in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIC stated that it uses its voting power to appoint executive management that is racially and gender diverse within the companies it invests in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIC implements this strategy by appointing board members in the various companies it invests in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These board members represent the PIC’s beneficiaries and have voting rights equal to its investment in the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The larger the PIC\u2019s shareholding within the business, the more voting power the PIC-appointed directors have on various business issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIC is incredibly influential within corporate South Africa and has the power to implement B-BBEE policies within the private sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PIC is the largest shareholder in most companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), with a listed SA equities holding of over R900 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that the PIC has the greatest voting power within the largest companies in South Africa, and it uses this influence to implement its transformation goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table below shows some companies in which the PIC and, by extension, the South African government has immense influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Company<\/strong><\/td>PIC\/Government <\/strong>
% Shareholding<\/strong><\/td>		PIC Rank<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Vodacom<\/td>11.94%<\/td>2nd Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
MTN<\/td>19.44%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Telkom<\/td>50.46%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Naspers<\/td>16.04%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Firstrand<\/td>16.10%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Standard Bank<\/td>14.50%<\/td>2nd Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Capitec Bank<\/td>15.56%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Gold Fields<\/td>20.01%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
AngloGold Ashanti<\/td>14.89%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Sanlam<\/td>14.80%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Harmony Gold<\/td>12.34%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Bid Corp<\/td>19.96%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Shoprite<\/td>16.84%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Discovery<\/td>12.87%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Nedbank<\/td>15.88%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Impala Platinum<\/td>17.56%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Pepkor<\/td>15.15%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Remgro<\/td>17.31%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Bidvest Group<\/td>21.55%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Clicks<\/td>20.14%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Aspen<\/td>18.07%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Mr Price<\/td>17.33%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Sibanye Stillwater<\/td>15.05%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Woolworths<\/td>15.05%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Exxaro<\/td>15.05%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
ABSA<\/td>5.14%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Growthpoint Properties<\/td>32.72%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Dis-Chem<\/td>18.04%<\/td>2nd Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Multichoice<\/td>11.83%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Sasol<\/td>17.13%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Investec<\/td>15.54%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Mondi<\/td>9.94%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr>
Coronation<\/td>12.79%<\/td>Largest Shareholder<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) owns large stakes in most big South African companies, making it the country’s most powerful organisation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":819412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[22204],"class_list":["post-819409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-public-investment-corporation-pic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819409","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819409"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819446,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819409\/revisions\/819446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}