Gideon Nieuwoudt appointed as an independent non-executive director of the Board of Remgro

CHANGES TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF REMGRO (the "Board")

In compliance with paragraph 3.59 of the JSE Limited Listings Requirements, the following information is disclosed:

Retirement of a non-executive director and the lead independent non-executive director

The Board hereby announces the retirement of Dr Edwin de la Harpe Hertzog as co deputy Chairman and non-executive director of the Board and Mr Gerrit Thomas Ferreira as the lead independent non- executive director of the Board with effect from the close of Remgro's next Annual General Meeting on 28 November 2019.

Dr Hertzog currently acts as co deputy Chairman with Mr Josua Malherbe. The Remgro Board Charter will be amended to indicate that there will only be one deputy Chairman.

The Board wishes to thank Dr Hertzog and Mr Ferreira for their valuable contributions over many years.

Change in function of a director

Ms Sonja Emilia Ncumisa de Bruyn who has served as an independent non-executive director on the Board since 2015, will succeed Mr Ferreira as the lead independent non-executive director of the Board when Mr Ferreira retires.

Appointment of a non-executive director, an independent non- executive director and an alternate independent non-executive director

The Board has approved the appointments of Mr Paul Johannes Neethling as a non-executive director and Mr Gideon Gabriel Nieuwoudt as an independent non-executive director of the Board with effect from the close of Remgro's next Annual General Meeting on 28 November 2019.

Mr Neethling was an Investment Executive in the corporate finance division of Remgro Management Services Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Remgro and serves as an alternate director to Mr Jan Jonathan Durand on the Board of RCL Foods Limited. He holds a BCom (Hons) degree in Financial and Investment Management from the University of Stellenbosch, and has acquired extensive business experience through a number of other directorships.

Mr Nieuwoudt is the founder and managing partner of Southern Right Capital UK Limited. He serves as an independent advisor on Stanlib Multi-Manager's Alternative Assets Investment Committee, is a non- executive director of Empiric Managed Capital Advisors and Accumulus Emerging Managers Fund and Accumulus Fund. Previously, he served as director of Alternative Investment Solutions at Edmont de Rothschild Capital Holdings, London and managing partner and portfolio manager at Silver Creek Capital UK LLP. He is a CFA Charter holder and holds a BCom degree in Mathematics from the University of Stellenbosch.

Furthermore, Mr Paul Kenneth Harris has indicated his intention to retire as an independent non-executive director from the Board in 2020. By way of succession, the Board has approved the appointment of Mr Lelo Rantloane as an alternate independent non-executive director to Mr Harris with effect from the close of Remgro's next Annual General Meeting on 28 November 2019.

Mr Rantloane holds a BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Cape Town and is the founding CEO of Ata Capital. He is currently a director of Rain Group Holdings Proprietary Limited, Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, SLG Proprietary Limited, Masana Petroleum Solutions Proprietary Limited, Imbewu Capital Partners Proprietary Limited and a trustee of the Click Foundation. Prior to this he was Head of Debt Capital Markets at Deutsche Bank AG, Johannesburg. He began his career with Rand Merchant Bank Limited and was appointed Executive Assistant to the CEOs of FirstRand Limited and FirstRand Bank Limited.

Institutional Investor Hedge Fund Rising Stars

Gideon Nieuwoudt, Silver Creek Capital Management
Hedge fund executives in the U.K. say Gideon Nieuwoudt knows everyone who is anyone in the City and beyond. Nieuwoudt, 36, moved to London in January 2000, after graduating from ­Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He worked for several years as a consultant in the hedge fund practice of investment advisory firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide (now Towers Watson), in both London and New York. In 2007 he moved to the fund-of-hedge-funds industry, joining Geneva-­based Union ­Bancaire Privée as deputy global head of research. In mid-2008 he joined Seattle-­based Silver Creek Capital Management as partner and head of the ­London office. Nieuwoudt, co–portfolio manager for Silver Creek’s flagship core strategies fund, has spearheaded the firm’s non-U.S. ambitions and in the past two years helped win ­Silver Creek $1.2 billion in new capital ­commitments.

Original Link: https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b14zpnwvf03yyr/hedge-fund-rising-stars-gideon-nieuwoudt

Financial News 40 Under 40 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds

Former colleagues credit Nieuwoudt for questioning the credibility of Bernard Madoff, now convicted of fraud, during his time as head of European and Asia research for Union Bancaire Privée Alternative Investments. More recently Nieuwoudt’s analytical approach has helped him drive the expansion of Silver Creek, which has $6bn of assets under management, beyond the US.

A native South African, Nieuwoudt says the best piece of advice he has been given is to “have roots and wings”. He intends to play golf and watch sport when he retires and is currently reading up on controversial South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs.

Original Article

Inside a Swiss Bank, Madoff Warnings

LONDON -- Swiss bank Union Bancaire Privé kept hundreds of millions of dollars of its wealthy clients' money in Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme despite warnings from its own research team, according to people familiar with the matter.

While others in the investment community had questioned Mr. Madoff's strategy and chosen to stay away, the instance offers a sign that red flags were raised within one of the large institutions that actually invested with Mr. Madoff.

Union Bancaire Privé, known as UBP and one of the largest investors in hedge funds globally, was part of an international network of so-called feeder funds that channeled money into Mr. Madoff's investment firm. The Geneva-based bank has said it has about $700 million in Madoff-related investments through its funds-of-funds and client portfolios.

By early 2007, though, UBP's research department had raised various concerns about Mr. Madoff's business, and later recommended that he be stricken from a list of fund managers approved for its clients' investments, according to people familiar with the matter and internal emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

UBP executive Christophe Bernard, top, was among officers in an discussion recommending against investing with Bernard Madoff.

The people say that some of the bank's most senior executives were aware of the concerns and discussed them. It is unclear how the matter was resolved, but UBP ultimately left hundreds of millions of dollars of its clients' money with Mr. Madoff.

UBP has told clients it was the victim of a "massive fraud," and that it conducted due diligence, including visits with Mr. Madoff and various principals. A UBP spokesman Tuesday said: "We make no further comment at this stage, as the U.S. government is currently investigating the Madoff case."

In an email exchange during February and March 2008 reviewed by the Journal, UBP's then-deputy head of research, Gideon Nieuwoudt, listed a number of worries, including the lack of even basic information such as how much Mr. Madoff had in assets, how many feeder funds there were, and how the investment strategy worked.

In one email, Mr. Nieuwoudt said he had spoken to more than 100 funds that invest or had invested with Madoff, but none of them could explain how the strategy produced such consistent returns. "It all seems very opaque," wrote Mr. Nieuwoudt, who had previously worked for a hedge-fund consultant.

Mr. Nieuwoudt recommended in the email that Mr. Madoff be taken off UBP's list of approved funds, which included more than 200 asset managers that had cleared UBP's screening process.

Among those included in the email discussion were at least two members of UBP's executive committee: Christophe Bernard, who headed the asset-management business, and Michael de Picciotto, head of the bank's treasury. Mr. de Picciotto is a nephew of the bank's founder, who also plays an active role in the alternative-investment business.

The concerns were also discussed during at least one investment-committee meeting, according to people familiar with the matter.

The UBP spokesman said Messrs. de Picciotto and Bernard weren't available for comment. Mr. Nieuwoudt left UBP last year to join another firm.

UBP has said it took comfort from the fact that Mr. Madoff's firm was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, among other factors.

In recent weeks, the bank has said it is reducing the number of funds on its approved list and is tightening its procedures for screening managers. For example, it is requiring all of its managers to use independent administrators, which help guard against fraud by serving as a third party responsible for confirming that a manager has the assets it says it does.

UBP invested with Mr. Madoff via four different feeder funds, including one run by Fairfield Greenwich Group of New York, one of the main conduits for investors in Mr. Madoff's funds. By early 2008, Mr. Madoff was among UBP's top five holdings, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.

Aside from its investments in Fairfield, UBP had close ties to the firm, providing advisory and other services to the management company of Fairfield's fund-of-funds division. Beyond that, three Fairfield funds invested in UBP's own Madoff feeder fund, called M-Invest Ltd., according to a person familiar with Fairfield.

As of October, the three funds had a total of about $200 million invested with UBP's M-Invest, this person said. The de Picciotto family originally created M-Invest as a way to invest family money with Mr. Madoff and later opened it to others.

Original Article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123188437723478727