Doctor Legum - LLD / The existing traditional international investment law regime which is largely based on the conventional European and North American Model Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) has come under intense criticism. The argument is that this regime, among other things, prioritises the protection of foreign investors and investments while sidelining significant public interest issues of the host countries. The inability to adequately accommodate public interest issues in the international investment law has unduly constrained the host countries’ sovereign right to regulate investments in public interests and pursue their public policy objectives.

Following economic reforms in 1978, the growth of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into China has been dramatic. The massive FDI inflows greatly benefited China's economy and contributed to its steady and rapid economic growth. Most FDI empirical studies use panel data as it solves the problem of data limitation, but it also produces 'average' effects for the results of the group of countries under study. Thus, individual countries in the group may generate different results when tested separately with the same model. This study uses an alternative approach that focuses on finding a Vector Error Correction Model with similar macroeconomic determinants of FDI for South Africa and for China. For both countries, larger market size and more advanced technology have a positive effect on FDI inflows, whereas higher labour cost affects FDI negatively. For the China model, infrastructure has a positive influence on its FDI inflows, whereas for the South African model worker strikes have a significant negative impact on FDI. Furthermore, we find remarkable similarities regarding the sectoral composition of FDI inflows in both countries, which further highlights the potential lessons that South Africa could learn from China regarding their highly successful FDI experience.

ABSTRACT Risk to small property investors manifests in the cash flow of the investment and it should thus also be managed in the cash flow. From a practical point of view it is logical that that risk management strategies be incorporated into a property investment at the inception stage of the investment. The cash flow of a property thus needs to include applicable risk management strategies as part of the feasibility study of the investment. The chief manner in which small property investors deal with risk in an investment, is by making conservative allowances in the projected cash flow of the investment. Internal risk is thus managed to a degree, but the small investor is still vulnerable to market risk which originates from outside the investment. Market risk however, is relatively successfully managed by the Institutional Sector of the property market through the application of Modern Portfolio Theory and the use of the portfolio as a vehicle to diversify internal risk. The portfolio vehicle also allows the quantification of external- or market risk, thus creating the opportunity for effective management. It is however believed that the same principles of Modern Portfolio Theory as applied in the institutional sector of the property market, may be applicable to small direct property investments, to formulate an investment risk management strategy, which is embedded in the conceptual stages of the investment and thus reduce the reliance on often, ineffective, active management and remedial strategies during the holding period. The main obstacle however, is that the application of Modern Portfolio Theory requires an industry bench mark or index, which is representative of the market and against which performance may be measured measured. The application of such an index to the small direct property investment is however extremely limited due to a difference between the scale at which small investments function and the scale of the market that an index represents. A substitute for a benchmark to act as a market indicator is thus required, which must be reflective of the market within which the small investment operates. This report investigates the possibility of deriving an investment-specific benchmark or a hypothetical return curve, based on the relationships that exist between the macro-economy and the property market. If it is indeed possible to establish the credibility of such an alternative market indicator, it would therefore become possible for small property investors to apply the risk management principles inherent to portfolio investing and incorporate these principles in the feasibility cash flows of small direct property investments.

This dissertation investigates the impact of macroeconomic variables on the performance of African stock markets, focusing on Egypt, Mauritius, and South Africa during the period 2009– 2019. This dissertation employed the multiple linear regression model and the Granger causality test to ascertain the impact of these factors. For each country, the stock market index was used as a dependant variable while interest rates, inflation rate, money supply, exchange rate, gold price, and oil price were used as independent variables. The results from the country-specific models varied widely from country to country. The heterogeneity of the results may be explained by differences in economic fundamentals between the countries, for example, market depth, market size, and liquidity. The model showed that interest rate, which is inversely related to stock prices, isthe only significant variable in explaining stock prices in Egypt. In Mauritius, it wasfound that only three factors significantly affect stock prices, namely, exchange rate, gold price, and inflation. A depreciation of the Mauritius Rupee to the USD and an increase of the gold prices decrease stock prices in Mauritius, whilst the effect of inflation was found to be positive. In South Africa, results showed that inflation, money supply, and oil prices significantly affect stock prices in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). However, unlike for Mauritius (where inflation has a positive impact), in South Africa, its effect is negative. By contrast, money supply and oil prices were found to impact the JSE stock prices positively. Against the backdrop of these findings, this dissertation encourages the governments and policy makers in emerging markets to consider stabilising the macroeconomy to create a conducive environment for stock market development. The Granger causality test reveals that stock prices can be used to predict oil prices in Egypt. In contrast, the South African data suggests no causal relationship between macroeconomic factors and stock prices. Finally, the same test in Mauritius shows that money supply can be used to predict stock prices, and stock prices can be used to forecast gold prices and exchange rates.

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Altınkılıç and Hansen (2000) show that underwriter spreads in seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) overwhelmingly reflect variable costs. This research attempts to begin filling the gap created by this result, as to what are the important constituents of the variable costs. In particular, I investigate the hypothesis that an important part of underwriter compensation is partial payment for anticipated market making activities in the secondary market, once the offer begins. I show that lead underwriter market making activities following an SEO are partly paid through the spread. The lower bound cost estimates show that the spreads for firms likely to require the most market making services are on average 100 basis points higher than those requiring the least services. On average, the compensation for market making activities amounts to 20% of the lead underwriter's total compensation. The results are robust to several considerations. / Ph. D.