“STABILISING FRAGILE STATES; The Tswalu Protocol Revisited” - 2011

https://www.thebrenthurstfoundation.org/downloads/2011-01-tswalu-paper-brenthurst-paper-.pdf

Below are excerpts

II. AIM

With this in mind, in mid-January 2011 the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst Foundation hosted a three day-long international meeting of leading political and military officials with current first-hand experience of stability operations in fragile states to consider what could be learned from recent successes and failures. This Tswalu Dialogue, entitled ‘The Future of Stability Operations’, was held in partnership with the Rand Corporation and the British Peace Support Team (South Africa) at the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in South Africa. (A full list of participants is contained in the Annexure.)

The Dialogue used as one of its starting points the Tswalu Protocol1 (published in 2008), a set of principles, guidelines and choices derived from the experience of heads of state, governments, non-governmental organisations, military professionals, and academics who have been at the epicentre of peace support missions. One of the aims of the 2011 Dialogue was to assess and if necessary refine or devise new recommendations from the Protocol in order to better prepare nations, institutions and people for stabilising fragile states.

V. WAY FORWARD

There is a body of expert opinion that argues that stability operations of the kind currently being conducted in Afghanistan are unlikely to be repeated; that is, states will be much more reticent to take on complex, long-term operations of uncertain duration and cost in the future.

Yet given that no one can safely predict what impact climate change or the youth population explosion in Africa and the developing world – to take just two prominent ‘unknowns’ – will have on global security, it would be prudent to prepare ourselves for a future where the international community will be called upon to prepare for more rather than less stability operations. To help us think in generational terms and ensure that the lessons from stabilisation are inculcated and applied, requires not only re-examination of the syllabi of existing peace-support institutions but also perhaps the creation of an all-new ‘Stabilisation Academy’.

Stabilisation requires, at its heart, understanding local norms, mores and operating systems, how external actions might strengthen or weaken, for example, local solutions and actors. More than that, knowledge and the much cheaper business of prevention go hand-in-hand. And this requires fundamentally a long-term investment in people.

ANNEXURES

Participants and Secretariat, Tswalu, 14–16 January 2011

John Abizaid (General), US

Martin Agwai (General), Nigeria

Anthony Arnott (Major), Army Air Corps, UK

Richard Berthon, former Stability Advisor, ISAF RC(S), Kandahar, UK

Farhan Bokhari, Financial Times, Pakistan

Nicola Brewer (Dr), UK High Commissioner to SA, UK

Luke Bronin, ISAF, US

Raymond Brown (Dr), Foreign Policy Advisor: AFRICOM, US

Tim Butcher, Journalist and Author, UK

Nick Carter (Maj- Genl), former Commander, ISAF RC(S), Kandahar; Head: Land Warfare Centre, UK

Dickie Davis (Brigadier), former Chief of Staff, ISAF RC(S), Kandahar, UK

Luisa Dias Diogo MP, (Dr), former Prime Minister, Mozambique

Alan Doss, former SRSG Liberia and Congo, UK

David Fahrenkrug (Colonel), USAF, US

Jerry Heal (Colonel), UK Defence Attaché: South Africa, UK

Leila Jack, Brenthurst Foundation, SA

Adrian Johnson, Royal United Services Institute, UK

John A Kufuor (President), Ghana

Themba Matanzima (Lieutenant General), Acting Chief of the SANDF, SA

Ewen McLay (Brigadier), UK

Terence McNamee (Dr), Brenthurst Foundation, Canada

Duma Mdutyana (Major General), SANDF, SA

Greg Mills (Dr), Brenthurst Foundation, SA

Valetin Mubake (Mr), UDPS, Congo

Kenneth Mubu (Mr), Shadow Minister of International Relations, SA

Welile Nhlapo (Amb), National Security Adviser, SA

Ayanda Ntsaluba (Dr), Director-General: Dept. of International Relations and Co-operation, SA

Thomas Nziratimana, former Deputy Governor: South Kivu, Congo

Seth Obeng (Lieutenant General), Ghana

David Orletsky (Dr), Rand Corporation, US

Jonathan Oppenheimer, Brenthurst Foundation, SA

David Richards (General Sir), Chief of the Defence Staff, UK

Joe Siegle (Dr), African Center for Strategic Studies, US

Paula Thornhill (Dr; Brigadier General rtd), Rand Corporation, US

Chris Vernon (Colonel), British Peace Support Team, UK

Edward Wamala (Lieutenant General), Uganda

Now they have this. I was unable to find the list of attendees.

“A Tip for African Governments on Attracting Investment” - Tswalu Investment Protoco - Part 1

https://www.thebrenthurstfoundation.org/news/a-tip-for-african-governments-on-attracting-investment/

5 December 2019 - This article was originally published on The Daily Maverick, https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-12-05-a-tip-for-african-governments-on-attracting-investment/

Authors; Greg Mills, Director, The Brenhurst Foundation, and Research Director, The Brenthurst Foundation

African governments cannot confront and prosper alone. Local and foreign business, and the international aid community have to be partners in this endeavour.

A Dialogue between global and South African business, government and civil society at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve at the invitation of The Brenthurst Foundation this month discussed how African countries could unlock greater foreign and domestic investment.

The gathering agreed on a practical, implementable set of investment protocols that would inspire investor confidence and, in turn, boost economic growth, jobs and stability. In the words of the Foundation’s chairman, Olusegun Obasanjo, “We had deep and robust discussions about how we can get Africa to take its rightful place as a global economic powerhouse by attracting the investment needed to build our economies and improve the lives of our people.”

To develop Africa’s economies at a rate fast enough to keep pace with Africa’s fast-growing population, which is projected to double by 2050, the continent requires large injections of foreign and local direct investment.

The scale of the challenge is daunting. At current rates, in just 30 years, the same amount of time since the Berlin Wall fell, Nigeria’s population will increase to over 400 million, while Tanzania’s, currently 53 million, will grow to the same size as that of Russia at 137 million. Kenya’s will more than double to 95 million, while Uganda will balloon from 43 million to 106 million, according to the United Nations.

The anticipated pace of growth of African cities is even greater, projected to remain at over 4% for the next three decades, twice the global average. Africa’s share of global urban residents will as a result mushroom from 11.3% in 2010 to 20.2% by 2050. Using China’s estimated capital spend per urbaniser, Africa’s upcoming urban explosion will demand finding an extra $3-trillion in extra financing over the next generation on capital spend alone to get ahead of the urban demographic boom.

So far, the continent is not even close. FDI flows to Africa rose to $46-billion in 2018, an increase of 11% on 2017 according to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2019. Africa is better off in FDI terms than 2017, but not against much of the preceding five years. 2018’s partially stronger FDI to the continent was still nearly 18% lower than the $56-billion achieved in 2012 and 2015. Africa’s share of FDI is just 3.5% of $1.3-trillion; its share of global population is almost 17%. Developing Asia received, by comparison, $512-billion in 2018 FDI, or nearly 40% of the total, closer to its global population share of 60%.

Of course, FDI figures are not a perfect metaphor for growth or development. Much of the 21st-century boom in FDI in Africa and Latin America has centred on the commodity boom. Sustainable growth requires diversification of investment types.

This is mirrored in the experience of many African countries: from Angola to Zambia, governments’ failure to attract long-term investment (beyond the commodities sector) has been a brake on growth and development. Across the continent, business and investor confidence is usually weak and their relationship fragile, reflecting concerns about widespread corruption and wild swings in the commitment of governments to macroeconomic stability and the rule of law.

The governance aspects that lower returns on investment can be termed “friction costs”, and comprise the premium added by malfeasance, policy uncertainty, the absence of infrastructure, fractious business-labour regimes, capital controls and general avoidable inefficiencies. These “frictions” come at a cost to development by discouraging investors and constraining job creation.

For Africa to increase its per capita GDP from its current levels ($1,800) to the global average ($11,000) by 2050, it will have to increase its economy 12-fold, allowing for the rate of population increase. This requires an average annual growth rate of 7.4% for the next 30 years.

This will require, in turn, transforming Africa’s investment attractiveness. Reducing these frictions, encouraging greater investment, and facilitating the growth of jobs could be helped by a government commitment to a set of principles, the aim of which is to make African governments less antagonistic and more conducive to business.

“A Tip for African Governments on Attracting Investment” - Tswalu Investment Protoco - Part 2

https://www.thebrenthurstfoundation.org/news/a-tip-for-african-governments-on-attracting-investment/

5 December 2019 - This article was originally published on The Daily Maverick, https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-12-05-a-tip-for-african-governments-on-attracting-investment/

Used in conjunction with the Brenthurst Friction Index, which measures and compares the cost premium to investment across different African countries, the Tswalu Investment Protocol provides a baseline commitment clarifying the intent of government on critical aspects of a business concern. The product of deliberations among African and international business and government stake-holds at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, the Protocol calls on governments to:

1. Forge an inclusive national development narrative.

2. Focus on building trust with investors, local and foreign.

3. Publish a national investment plan and prioritised operational strategy.

4. Collaborate with their region in competing with other global investment destinations on policy, logistics and incentives.

5. Ensure a predictable, transparent, stable and consistent policy regime, underpinned by a commitment to the rule of law.

6. Engage with local investors, from big to small, to set the stage for foreign investment.

7. Cut red tape to reduce business friction.

8. Encourage and incentivise sustainable investment that stimulates local job creation, foreign exchange, and technology transfer.

9. Use public investment to crowd in other streams of finance.

10. Maintain a laser-like focus on job creation to address inequality.

11. Establish a permanent investment agency empowered to facilitate foreign inflows.

12. Provide visa-free access to investors.

13. Allow investors to repatriate profits.

14. Match skills, training and immigration regimes with business needs.

15. Prioritise effective and reliable network infrastructure.

African governments cannot confront and prosper alone. Local and foreign business, and the international aid community have to be partners in this endeavour. This requires clear indexing and metrics on policy and governance performance to reduce the cost premium and a clear commitment by the government to the rules of the road as expressed in the Tswalu Investment Protocol.

>>16656491

>Jonathan Oppenheimer, Brenthurst Foundation, SA

>>16656534

>Greg Mills, Director, The Brenhurst Foundation,

“Jonathan Oppenheimer V Revenue & Customs (Income Tax – Whether in UK or RSA)” 2021

http://web.archive.org/web/20220706172934/https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/6255c979b50db9681fe9a676

https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/6255c979b50db9681fe9a676

[It is worth reading the court case in full as it discusses his properties around the world, business entities, lifestyle, etc. What caught my eye was the following;]

The hearing took place on 7 to 9 June and 14 to 15 June 2021.

1. E Oppenheimer & Son International Limited (EOSIL) was the principal holding company for investments owned by the Oppenheimer family interests and Mr Oppenheimer was a non-executive director between 2002 and 2013. It was incorporated in the BVI and subsequently the Isle of Man.

1. Mr Oppenheimer frequently visited Makena Capital Management LLC (Makena), the US management entity which managed some of EOSIL’s funds and in which EOSIL has a direct stake. Mr Oppenheimer said that of the portofolio of the family’s assets that was managed by third parties, approximately 70% was managed by Makena in the US and that a significant amount of the capital that represents is deployed in Asia.

1. His first executive assistant was appointed in August 2016 and his primary focus was to foster relationships with third party managers of capital, and in particular Makena, so working out of London was appropriate.

1. During the Relevant Period, Mr Oppenheimer was at some point a director of a number of other companies based in the RSA but with the exception of Cypher, they have no immediate relevance other than their geographical location. In summary, during the Relevant Period, Mr Oppenheimer held at least 18 directorships in South African companies and two in UK companies; he drew no salary from the UK companies.

The Brenthurst Foundation and associated matters

1. We have briefly referred to the Brenthurst Foundation and the Tswalu Dialogues under the heading Twsalu above. It was, and is, a significant philanthropic interest for Mr Oppenheimer and his father. In her lifetime, Mrs Oppenheimer was also very involved.

1. __In 2003, Mr Oppenheimer and his father wrote a thought piece called the Brenhurst Initiative about how the RSA could deal with economic transformation. That generated a great deal of public debate, having been welcomed by the President of the RSA, so they established the Brenthurst Foundation (Foundation) in Johannesburg in 2004. The methodology behind the Foundation was to identify development best practice from around the world and then share the findings with African heads of government with the aim of promoting and strengthening economic performance.

1. In 2005, Mr Oppenheimer recruited Dr Greg Mills, as a Director, to help with the Foundation which is run by a South African company, the Brenthurst Foundation Pty Limited, based in Johannesburg with a staff of seven. The Foundation works directly with African governments to create prosperity in the RSA and Africa more generally.

1. The Foudnation is independent of the Oppenheimer family and the focues deliberately pan-African and that is reflected in the composition of the Board which has three members from the RSA of the 15. The remainder come from Nigeria, Liberia, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Morocco, the USA and the UK. Dr Mills explained that that was a conscious decision which was taken partly because of the challenges of the family’s legacy in South Africa. The Family are close associated with South Africa but their involvement in Anglo-American and De Beers meant they had a complicated relationship with South Africa.

1. The Foundation’s meetings and activities are not confined to the RSA and there is evidence of meetings in Botswana, Eritrea, Djibouti, Mozambique, Somaliland, Liberia, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Morocco, quite apart from Italy, Israel, India, Dubai, Afghanistan, Turkey, Singapore, the UK and the USA.

1. Because the Foundation works directly with African governments, Mr Oppenheimer sat on the Presidential International Advisory board to President Guebeza of Mozambique between 2006 and 2012 and on the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Economy to President Banda of Malawi between May 2012 and August 2014.

>>16656585

>171. Mr Oppenheimer frequently visited Makena Capital Management LLC (Makena), the US management entity which managed some of EOSIL’s funds and in which EOSIL has a direct stake. Mr Oppenheimer said that of the portofolio of the family’s assets that was managed by third parties, approximately 70% was managed by Makena in the US and that a significant amount of the capital that represents is deployed in Asia.

>172. His first executive assistant was appointed in August 2016 and his primary focus was to foster relationships with third party managers of capital, and in particular Makena, so working out of London was appropriate.

It becomes interesting when one looks at its team members.

https://www.makenacap.com/why-makena/#why-makena-team

Mike McCaffery – Chairman of Makena’s Executive Committee

Michael McCaffery is Chairman of Makena’s Executive Committee. Mike was the firm’s founding CEO and has also served as the Executive Chairman and Managing Partner. He is also a current member of the Management Committee. Prior to forming Makena Capital Management in 2005, Mike was the President and CEO of the Stanford Management Company overseeing the Stanford University endowment, which he joined in 2000. Previously, he was Chairman and CEO of the investment bank Robertson Stephens and Company. Mike joined Robertson Stephens as Director of Investment Banking in 1988. Prior to Robertson Stephens, Mike was with Morgan Stanley and Company.

Mike was named to the board of directors of NVIDIA Corp. in March 2015 and is a director of C3, a private technology firm. He also serves as Trustee Emeritus of the Rhodes Scholarship Trust. Mike is a member of the advisory boards of several fund managers and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). Mike graduated with a B.A. from Princeton University, and as a Rhodes Scholar attended Merton College at Oxford University, where he earned a B.A. Honors and an M.A. Mike has an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

>>16656684

Eric Doppstadt – Board of Directors Member

Eric Doppstadt, CFA, is Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of The Ford Foundation in New York, and has over 20 years’ experience in investment management. He is responsible for managing the Foundation’s $12 billion endowment, where he leads a team of fifteen professionals. Before assuming his current position in June 2009, he spent fifteen years in a number of alternative investment roles at the Foundation, including nine years managing the Foundation’s investments in venture capital, private equity, distressed investments, and hedge funds. Prior to joining the Foundation, he spent five years practicing corporate law with the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York.

He is a member of the World Economic Forum Committee on the Future of Long-Term Investing and a Director and member of the Finance & Investment Committee of Arch Capital Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACGL), a Bermuda-based company that provides specialty insurance and reinsurance on a worldwide basis through its wholly owned subsidiaries.

He received his undergraduate degree with Honors from The University of Chicago, studied international economics at Georgetown University on a fellowship from the Fund for American Studies, and received a law degree from NYU School of Law, where he was Articles Editor of the NYU Annual Survey of American Law. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute.

Peter Henry – Board of Directors Member

Peter Henry is W. R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Finance and Dean Emeritus at New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business. He joined Stern from Stanford University where he was the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of International Economics, the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Faculty Scholar, and the Associate Director of the Center for Global Business and the Economy at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. In September of 2022, he will return to Stanford University to be jointly appointed as the Class of 1984 Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a senior fellow at Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI).

Henry led the external economic advisory group for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and was subsequently chosen to lead the Presidential Transition Team’s review of international lending agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. In June 2009, President Obama appointed him to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships.

Henry is a published author on topics including debt relief, international capital flows and the role of institutions in economic growth. He has regularly been invited to address the IMF and to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and before various ambassadors to the United Nations.

Henry received his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University where he earned a BA degree in mathematics, and he also holds a BA degree in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Henry currently serves on the boards of Citigroup, Nike, the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Economic Club of New York. He is also a member of the Economic Advisory Panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

>>16656684

>>16656706

>>16656736

Last but not least

Dr. Condoleezza Rice – Makena Board of Directors Member

Dr. Condoleezza Rice is the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and professor of political science at Stanford University. From January 2005 to 2009, she served as the 66th Secretary of State of the United States. Prior to assuming that position, she served as the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (the National Security Advisor) from January 2001 to 2005. Dr. Rice joined the Stanford University faculty as a professor of political science in 1981 and served as Stanford University’s provost from 1993 to 1999. She was a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution from 1991 to 1993 and returned to the Hoover Institution after serving as provost until 2001.

Dr. Rice earned her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981 and her master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1975. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver in 1974.

>>16656585

>>16656684

>>16656706

>>16656736

>>16656755

“Partners Capital [Lord Jacob Rothschild and Sir Ronald Cohen] Adds to its Board of Directors with the Appointment of Four Global Investment Executives” – Former Co-founder and CEO of Makena, David Burke is one of them

https://partners-cap.com/press/partners-capital-adds-to-its-board-of-directors-with-the-appointment-of-four-global-investment-executives/

14 July 2021

Top executives from institutional and private investment firms including Apollo, Makena, Rothschild Foundation and Höegh Capital Partners join distinguished Board of global OCIO

Partners Capital, a leading global Outsourced Investment Office, today announced the appointments of Sanjiv Misra, David Burke and Brad Fried to its Board of Directors. Martine Holter has been named as a Board Adviser.

These additions to the Partners Capital Board represent the most significant changes to its membership since 2005 when Lord [Jacob] Rothschild and Sir Ronald Cohen made their strategic investments in the business.

While the working partners continue to retain majority ownership and control of the firm, the strengthening of the Board with the addition of the external directors reflects an important milestone in the business.

The profiles of the new members are set out below:

• Sanjiv Misra is an Independent Advisor and Chairman of the Asia Pacific Advisory Board for Apollo Management, the global private equity and alternative asset management firm. He also holds several additional board seats and is President of Phoenix Advisors Pte Ltd, a boutique advisory and principal investing firm. Sanjiv spent his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, most recently as Head of Citigroup’s Asia Pacific Corporate Bank till 2008. Sanjiv’s appointment brings valuable experience and insight on Asian markets as Partners Capital look to deepen its investments business in the region.

• David Burke brings a different perspective on the Outsourced CIO business which he pioneered as the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Makena Capital, based in San Francisco. David also brings extensive private equity and venture capital leadership experience. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of Selby Lane, a specialty finance company that provides capital and expertise to top investment and asset management firms.

• Brad Fried is the current Chair of the Court of Directors of the Bank of England and the Co-Founder of private investment firm Grovepoint Capital. Brad is the former Chief Executive Officer of Investec Bank and current Chair of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe. Brad will bring important macroeconomic insights to the Board and will provide an eye to good governance across the organisation.

• Martine Holter is the Chief Executive Officer of Höegh Capital Partners (HCP), a family investment office co-located in London and Oslo which oversees the investment interests of the Höegh family. Martine is also a board member of several Höegh-controlled direct investments, private and public. Prior to HCP, she was Chief Operating Officer of venture capital firm Arts Alliance Advisors, a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in London and an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in New York and Hong Kong.

Other members of the Partners Capital Board of Directors include independent directors Rosalind Hewsenian (CIO, Helmsley Charitable Trust), Rich DeMartini (Vice Chairman, Crestview) and Board Adviser Jeremy Sillem (Managing Partner, Spencer House Partners). Also on the Board are members of the firm’s senior leadership – Stan Miranda, Arjun Raghavan, Paul Dimitruk, John Collis and William Fox. The firm’s global Chief Operating Officer, Toby Seth, will carry on as a Board Advisor.

>>16567352

>>16671807

>Brad Fried is the current Chair of the Court of Directors of the Bank of England and the Co-Founder of private investment firm Grovepoint Capital. Brad is the former Chief Executive Officer of Investec Bank and current Chair of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe.

Sir Bradley Fried – Partners Capital

https://partners-cap.com/team/brad-fried/

Brad was raised in South Africa and trained with Arthur Andersen before moving to the US. After graduating with an MBA from Wharton, he joined McKinsey in New York where he was a partner in the firm’s Financial Institutions Group.

In 1999 Brad moved to London to run Investec Bank in the UK. In 2009 he co-founded the private investment firm, Grovepoint. In 2012 Brad was appointed to the Court of Directors of the Bank of England, becoming chairman of the Bank in 2018.

Brad is a Governor of the London Business School; a Fellow of Cambridge University’s Magdalene College; and was previously the CEO-in-Residence and a Fellow in Finance at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School.

Brad is also Chairman of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe.

>>16671926

> In 2009 he co-founded the private investment firm, Grovepoint. In 2012 Brad was appointed to the Court of Directors of the Bank of England, becoming chairman of the Bank in 2018.

“Bank of England’s Fried to Head Billionaire Kirsh Family Office [Another South African Family]”

https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news-fast-news/bank-of-englands-fried-to-head-billionaire-kirsh-family-office/

October 14, 2015

Fried starts in November and takes over from Ron Sandler, the former CEO of Lloyd’s of London.

Bradley Fried, a member of the Bank of England’s Court of Directors and former chief executive officer of Investec Plc, is joining South African billionaire Nathan “Natie’’ Kirsh’s family office as its new CEO.

Fried will oversee Kirsh Group, the management company that holds Kirsh’s disparate assets, which include two US wholesale grocery businesses, commercial and residential real estate, and private equity investments on four continents. Kirsh’s fortune is valued at $6.2 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

“I’ve met many chief executives, many who were outstanding at strategy, outstanding at execution,” said Fried in a telephone interview. “In Natie, I’ve found an extraordinary visionary. At the age of 50 I almost feel as if I’m being apprenticed all over again.”

Fried starts in November and takes over from Ron Sandler, the former CEO of Lloyd’s of London, who Kirsh said will remain working as a trustee and adviser to the family.

Early Ventures

A Cape Town native, Fried worked for McKinsey & Co in New York before moving to London in 1999 to work for UK-listed Investec. He resigned as CEO from the bank in 2010 to found his own investment firm, Grovepoint Capital, which Fried said has completed “a couple billion dollars” in deals since inception.

Fried became acquainted with Kirsh shortly after he relocated to London and credits the billionaire with helping his venture prosper in its first five years. He said Kirsh has advised on all of Grovepoint’s deals, which include acquiring Total SA’s UK downstream assets and buying a stake in Israeli microalgae farm Algatechnologies. He’ll continue to be involved with Grovepoint and remain on the court of the Bank of England until his term’s expiration in May 2019.

The move comes one month after Ashvin Chhabra, the former chief investment officer of Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, joined as president of the family office for hedge fund billionaire James Simons. Both appointments were made as family offices worldwide suffered “lackluster” returns, according to a report released in September by UBS AG and London-based research firm Campden Wealth.

Swaziland Mills

Kirsh, 83, made his first fortune in Africa in 1958, starting with a Swaziland corn-milling business that later evolved into a dominant food retailer in his native South Africa. Today the billionaire’s most valuable asset is Jetro Holdings, a New York-based company that manages Jetro Cash & Carry and Restaurant Depot, which had more than $9 billion in combined revenue in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Fried said he won’t be directly involved with the operations of Jetro or Kirsh’s other subsidiary companies, which all have their own CEOs. He said his role will be to oversee existing investments, hunt for new opportunities and prepare the group for a time when Kirsh is no longer involved.

“Natie said to me, over time families make transitions, and I’d like you to be there during one of these transitional moments,” Fried said. “And I said to him, I’d like you to teach me everything you can.”

>>16671926

>>16671939

>Fried became acquainted with Kirsh shortly after he relocated to London and credits the billionaire with helping his venture prosper in its first five years. He said Kirsh has advised on all of Grovepoint’s deals, which include acquiring Total SA’s UK downstream assets and buying a stake in Israeli microalgae farm Algatechnologies.

“Leon Blitz and Bradley Fried made their first investment in Israel. $50 million in Algatechnologies”

https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2013/06/23/leon-blitz-and-bradley-fried-made-their-first-investment-in-israel-50-million-in-algatechnologies/

June 23, 2013

Blitz and Fried, Grovepoint, have recently concluded their first major transaction in Israel, taking majority stakes in Algatechnologies Ltd.

One of the most successful examples of such a farm can be found on Kibbutz Ketura situated in the south of Israel, close to the popular holiday resort of Eilat.

The Kibbutz branch specialising in the commercial breeding of algae goes by the name Algatechnologies, and has earned an international reputation in the cultivation of micro-algae, which goes into the production of what is regarded as among the most effective and powerful antioxidants available, which goes by the name of astaxanthin.

Astaxanthin is extracted from the algae, in the form of a much more pleasant looking dark red organic pigment. Apart from its many health giving benefits, Astaxanthin also make up a considerable ingredient in the production of cosmetic products, sun creams, food supplements, and even crustacean food colourants.

What’s most important is that Astaxanthin, as a powerful natural antioxidant offers proven health benefits in treating several health conditions related to cardiovascular health joint and muscle function, skin care health among many other medical conditions. The natural astaxanthin goes into the production of AstaPure®, whose benefits are already well known and established in the Japanese health food product markets whilst demand for the product is rapidly increasing in the United States as well as throughout Europe.

These are the reasons why Leon Blitz and Bradley Fried through the investment company Grovepoint has invested an estimated $50 million in exchange for a 56 per cent stake in the business.

Their participation in Algatechnologies marks Grovepoint’s first investment in Israel, who displayed their intentions to create a serious presence in the country by establishing a local office in 2012, with resident managers Hagai Stadler and Gil Meirovich on the lookout for investing opportunities.

Leon Blitz speaking on behalf of Grovepoint after the deal had been completed stated that the company had always wanted to invest in Israel as soon as it was formed. “ We are very keen on the country because of their technological prowess particularly in water, agriculture and food, biotech and clean tech which also enjoys the benefit of being very transportable.” Mr Blitz summed up

Grovepoint also announced their plans to increase Algatech’s production levels by hundred percent over the next few years, and will be making additional capital available to expand the sphere of the business. Their intentions are to increase the coverage of “AstaPure” on a global basis. In addition Grovepoint have made a commitment to investing in increased research and development facilities, to further the development of new algae-derived products.

Both Leon Blitz and Bradley Fried were born in Cape Town, South Africa and confess to being close friends for almost four decades. The pair first met whilst training to be accountants with the international partnership of Arthur Andersen.

Blitz left Arthur Anderson to join international investment company Investec, first working for them in their South African office, before being transferred to London in the early 1990s, going on to become head of direct investments and growth and acquisition finance, and head of private banking in the UK.

Bradley Fried rejoined his friend in London and at the Investec Bank in the UK in 2000, by way of the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he completed his MBA and a spell at merchant bankers McKinsey & Co in New York.

The pair left Investec Bank in 2010 to form Grovepoint , and since its foundation the company has made $1 billion of investments.