{"id":837372,"date":"2025-09-14T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=837372"},"modified":"2026-03-06T14:45:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T12:45:02","slug":"south-african-investors-want-a-piece-of-johann-ruperts-r113-billion-pile-of-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/837372\/south-african-investors-want-a-piece-of-johann-ruperts-r113-billion-pile-of-cash\/","title":{"rendered":"South African investors want a piece of Johann Rupert’s R113 billion pile of cash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Johann Rupert\u2019s Reinet is sitting on a mountain of cash, with investors drawn to the massive discount. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rupert is the executive chairman of Reinet, with his family controlling Reinet as a general partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has seen a massive shift over the last year, having sold its stake in British American Tobacco (BAT) while selling Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reinet sold 48.3 million BAT shares in late 2024 and early 2025, pocketing the group \u20ac1,627 million (R33 billion). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This market marks the end of an era, with the Rupert family\u2019s wealth tracing back to the  Voorbrand Tobacco Company, which was created by Rupert\u2019s father, Anton, in the 1940s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voorbrand became Rembrandt, a major player in the tobacco industry, in 1948. It would list on the JSE a few years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the sale, Rupert said the ample cash proceeds would ensure the group\u2019s ability to meet existing and future investment commitments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of the BAT sale, the group also announced it had reached a deal to sell PIC to Athora Holding UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reinet owns close to 50% of PIC, which manages \u00a350.9 billion (about R1.2 trillion) of pensions for nearly 400,000 policyholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transaction with Athora, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in early 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PIC\u2019s fully diluted share capital will rise from an estimated \u00a35.7 billion (R135 billion) to \u00a35.9 billion (R142 billion), including expected dividends before closing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PIC is Reinet\u2019s most significant investment and represents 53.7% of its total Net Asset Value (NAV), per its latest available balance sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the sale of BAT, cash accounts for 26% of Reinet\u2019s total NAV as things stand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the sale, Reinet\u2019s balance sheet could soon comprise close to 80% cash, sitting at around R113 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investors like what they see <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Protea Capital Management founder and CEO Jean Pierre Verster <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Speaking with Business Day TV<\/a>, Jean Pierre Verster from Protea Capital Management chose Reinet as his stock pick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a bubbly market, Verster said that he wanted \u201ccash, cash, cash.\u201d Rupert is known for keeping cash in Swiss Francs, which Verster is fine with. However, that cash is not in Reinet yet.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that the sale of PIC is only expected in 2026, Verster doesn\u2019t expect any big changes or announcements until next year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if nothing changes, Verster said that at least investors are buying valuable foreign currencies at a discount. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a scenario where Rupert calls it a day with Reinet, given that its two largest stakes have been sold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verster said that Rupert could decide to spend more time playing golf or relaxing on his wine farm. If the company unwinds, investors could receive a special dividend.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verster noted that the downside is relatively limited given that the cash is face, while there is still optionality on the upside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, buy it now, and wait till 2026 to see what happens,\u201d said Verster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verster is not the first investor to choose Reinet as their stock pick, with Sanelisiwe Tofile, Deputy Chief Investment Officer at All Weather Capital, also believing that the company offers good value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tofile previously said that around 80% of Reinet\u2019s net asset value (NAV) will be in cash.  Moreover, the cash part of its NAV on a per share basis is higher than its listed share price. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the opportunity for further mergers and acquisitions, All Weather Capital expects meaningful shareholder returns.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Reinet Share Price over the last five years<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Protea Capital Management CEO Jean Pierre Verster is the latest investor drawn to Johann Rupert’s Reinet. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":807166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[19503,19968,19951],"class_list":["post-837372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-all-weather-capital","tag-protea-capital-management","tag-reinet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837372","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=837372"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853187,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837372\/revisions\/853187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}