New Exchange Aims to Boost Economic Lot of Black South Africans
- ZAR X has 25% investment from largest African fund manager
- New exchange faces challenges of liquidity: Ashburton
An employee works in an office at the ZAR X in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A 16-month-old South African exchange said it can be a platform to ease one of the deepest challenges confronting major listed companies since white minority rule ended: increasing black economic empowerment.
ZAR X’s goal is to be the specialized home of investment vehicles intended to spread wealth among black South Africans and help address economic inequalities lingering after the removal of apartheid in 1994. That objective was boosted in January, when the Public Investment Corp., which manages state workers’ pensions and oversees about $150 billion in assets as Africa’s largest fund manager, bought a 25 percent stake.