Futuregrowth attacks JSE over $204bn bond market rules
JOHANNESBURG – Futuregrowth Asset Management Ltd. accused JSE Ltd. of reneging on agreements to improve investor protection in South Africa’s 3.08 trillion rand ($204 billion) bond market.
Futuregrowth, which manages about 194 billion rand of investments, said the JSE scrapped agreements made in October to boost investors’ ability to negotiate the terms and conditions of loan documentation transparently with lenders, and a requirement that borrowers, not investors, pay for legal advice. This put the bourse out of step with other jurisdictions, the fixed-income unit of Old Mutual Ltd. said.
“Their exclusion violates every principle of sound lending,” Olga Constantatos, Futuregrowth’s head of credit, said in a note to clients on Wednesday. It “enables issuers to divide and conquer by not allowing the investors to properly negotiate in the interest of the individual and pension-fund investors we represent,” she said.
Source: iol.co.za
