I am not bringing back one cent to South Africa – Magnus Heystek

Magnus Heystek, the co-founder and investment strategist at Brenthurst Wealth, said he is not bringing one cent he invested offshore back to South Africa.

Heystek shared his views on South Africa as an investment destination at the 2026 BizNews Conference in Hermanus.

He is a well-known proponent of offshore investing and was among the first wealth managers to advise his clients to consider international equities.

Shortly after the global financial crisis, and when President Jacob Zuma took office, he looked for better places to invest than South Africa.

Brenthurst partnered with some of the biggest global fund managers, including Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, and Vanguard, to access international markets.

The company also established two offshore funds – the Brenthurst Global Balanced Fund and the Brenthurst Global Equity Fund.

This was an inspired choice. Through these initiatives, Brenthurst’s clients benefited from the bull cycle in United States technology shares.

International equity returns, especially those of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, dwarfed those of the South African market.

Despite the great returns Heystek provided for his clients, he was widely criticised for his negative investment outlook on South Africa.

However, he did not back down. He remained outspoken that South Africa was not conducive to long-term investment or to safeguarding clients’ wealth.

His pessimism towards local investments even gained him the nickname ‘Doctor Doom’, which he says he wears with pride.

However, as the United States market continued its strong run and outperformed the local market, the criticism started to disappear.

Many fund managers started to follow Heystek’s example and promoted offshore investments as a good way for South Africans to protect and grow their wealth.

I am not bringing back one cent – Magnus Heystek

Over the past two years, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange All Share Index (JSE ALSI) has shown strong growth, outperforming many global markets.

In March 2024, the JSE ALSI traded around 73,000 points. It is currently sitting at approximately 112,000 points, a 54% increase.

The rand has also strengthened significantly over the last year, and many investors are optimistic about South Africa as an investment destination.

Many commentators speculated that this would prompt Heystek to change his tune and bring the money he had invested offshore back to South Africa.

However, this is not the case. “I am not bringing back my money. Not a cent is coming back to South Africa,” he said.

Heystek argues that the growth prospects remained significantly better offshore and that South Africa is a very small fish in a big pond.

Investing globally provides exposure to sectors such as technology and biotechnology that are not widely available on the JSE.

Heystek believes the South African economy is stuck in a rut due to current political management, high debt-to-GDP ratios, and a lack of infrastructure spending.

He argues that the optimistic forecasts for the local market are misguided and that the strong performance on the JSE was partly driven by luck.

This includes the rapid rise in gold and platinum prices over the last year, which bolstered mining and resource shares.

“The South African market increase was essentially driven by five or six shares. If the gold price reverses, that party is over,” he said.

“This means that we will go back to the fundamentals, and if you scratch deeper, they are not fantastic.”

He added that top investment managers, like Allan Gray, share the view that the local market “got ahead of itself”.

Heystek added that Morningstar also ranks markets such as South Korea, Brazil, and Argentina ahead of South Africa in terms of growth prospects.