Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-84). / This study investigates whether liquidity draw down requests by South African conduits will have a material financial impact on the South African banks providing such facilities. Using data on the South African conduits and the banks providing liquidity support, the impact was calculated and found to have minimal effect on the banks, concluding that the latter will be able to service liquidity draw down requests in a possible market disruption event.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This paper provides evidence about institutional investors’ attitudes and perceptions of private equity as an investment asset class in South Africa. In South Africa this plays an important, but not dominant role in the domestic institutional portfolios, representing about a reasonable asset allocation of assets of the institutional portfolio into private equity. Using an email survey of representatives of pension funds, insurance companies, property investment and asset management companies the study analyses the attractiveness of private equity in terms of institutional investment goals. The survey examines the institutional investors’ perceptions of private equity investment, namely with respect to its total expected returns, risk diversification, economic upliftment, capital appreciation and liabilities matching.

Includes bibliographical references. / This paper aims to expand on the growing area of fund style classification and benchmarking research in developed markets by extending such analyses to the South African context. ... A differentiating feature of this study is both the style indices used and the sample of fund manager return data in the South African context. The style indices used were sourced from A-DEX, which unlike those used in Scher and Muller (2005) comprise a greater sample of JSE listed companies and are fully tradable. Furthermore, the data sample compiled by RisCura Solutions (Pty) Ltd and contains returns from a total of sixty South African institutional fund managers. ... The current study analyses one of the largest samples of institutional manager return data in the South African context.

The practice of cluster management has become an integral component to the modern cluster business environment. This research develops a framework for the valuation of synergies generated by a cluster management organisation (CMO) to be used as either a method of (ex-post) management evaluation or (ex-ante) for capital budgeting purposes. The theoretical framework is synthesised from clustering and business alliance (predominantly Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and Joint Ventures (JV)), literature. The case of the South African Furniture Initiative (SAFI) was used to inform model development and to illustrate practical application of the theoretical synergy valuation model. The case study found that the synergy valuation model faces problems with practical application due to the wide variety of activities commonly associated with CMO goals and objectives. It concludes that even though a synergy framework would provide a useful tool for evaluation and capital budgeting, further research is required to develop a more accurate method of impact estimation.

Includes bibliographical references. / This research paper examines stock price reactions to the changes in cash dividend payments for mature companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Prior South African research studies have employed the Market Model and Mean-Adjusted Return Model of event study to estimate "normal return" of the companies listed on the JSE. This study has employed the Market-Adjusted Return Model and short event window (-5, +5) to test the effect of dividend changes. The empirical results are based on 48 samples of mature companies with regular half yearly cash dividend records during the 2000- 2004 period. Using 4741 dividend change observations, it was found that the stock price reactions to increase announcements were greater than those for decrease announcements over the entire event days. It was further found that the stronger positive market reactions were associated with those announcements of larger percentage increases in dividends. These results lead to support the existence of the Dividend Signalling Hypothesis.

Includes bibliographical references. / This paper is an analysis of the South African Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) performance fee structure. The paper looks at the methods used in the calculation of performance fees and provides a detailed breakdown of their implementation in the South African CIS industry. With the aim to show and explain the various performance fee structures that are currently in place in the South African CIS market and then to highlight differences in structures between so-called "similar funds".

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-82). / Ever since Modigliani and Miller (1958) made their irrelevance proposition, financial economists have long debated the effect of corporate finance decisions: dividend, capital structure, and investment, on the value of a firm, resulting in intensive theoretical modeling and empirical examinations. The existing evidence regarding this effect is mixed. In this study the debate is extended and its impact on JSE is tested.

Includes bibliographical references. / The international syndication of venture capital investments has become an increasingly widespread phenomenon, but there is a lack of research which applies the already limited prior international research in this field1 to South Africa or other African countries. This research aims to begin that discussion, and take the first step in filling that gap of understanding. The main research questions addressed in this study: are local venture capital practitioners ready and willing to syndicate internationally, and what are the constraints to the formation of those transactions? The issues were examined by interviewing high level investment practitioners representing seven of the 21 nongovernmental VC firms belonging to the South African Venture Capital Associated (SAVCA). This data were influenced and shaped by other available sources of primary and secondary data. The results indicate that South African venture capital investors are ready and willing to syndicate internationally, however there are caveats to that broad statement which the ensuing analysis addresses. Additionally, it was found that there are significant and profound constraints to these transactions forming in South Africa. Those constraints are an unsupportive regulatory environment, negative perceptions by the international investor community of South Africa, small domestic deal sizes and the dearth of bankable ventures led by high quality management teams. Options for further research include a study of the attitudes of potential foreign VC professional partners to the option of syndication involving South African VC firms, and a more in depth investigation into the risks and constraints to South Africa-international syndication.

This study investigates whether significant differences exist between South African, Australian and United Kingdom mining corporations in terms of derivative usage. The study further investigates whether such differences or similarities are due to size differences, specific mining industry sector differences, or are as a result of specific derivatives being more prevalent in a particular region of the world.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-97). / The following research aims to collect and collate a set of data relating to characteristics of mutual funds within the South African Mutual Fund Industry, with a specific focus on expenses. In addition, this research aims to investigate certain relationships within the industry, again keeping a specific focus on expenses. The key data used in the analysis include South African Mutual Fund Total Expense Ratios, Net Asset Values and Annualised Returns as well as mean Total Expense Ratios for other countries. The research finds that there exists no relationship between fund performance and expenses within the South African Mutual Fund Industry and that South African mutual funds exhibit significantly higher expenses than those of developed nations.