Smart Money – Jean Pierre Verster explains how he knew Steinhoff and African Bank were doomed

In this Smart Money with Alishia Seckam interview, Jean Pierre Verster – the CEO and founder of Protea Capital Management – shares his investment strategy.

Verster began his career as a financial manager and moved into the investment industry by joining Melville Douglas Investment Management in 2007 as a portfolio manager.

He joined 360NE Asset Management in 2010 and was part of its award-winning team until 2016.

Verster then decided to go it alone and launch the Protea range of hedge funds in partnership with Fairtree Asset Management.

This was extremely successful, encouraging him to launch Protea Capital Management as a standalone investment management business in 2019.

Since then, Protea Capital Management has grown from strength to strength and is now one of the most respected investment companies in South Africa.

Alongside his leadership role at Protea Capital Management, Verster is an independent non-executive director at Capitec Bank.

He also has a track record of identifying industry-defining events before they happen and is well-known for predicting the collapses of Steinhoff and African Bank.

The interview

In this Smart Money episode, Verster discusses his career journey – which involved switching from being a financial manager to joining the investment industry.

He then explains why he genuinely enjoys reading annual reports and consuming hundreds of financial and corporate information pages.

Verster sheds light on why he prefers investing in hedge funds. He also explains Protea Capital Management’s “quantamental” analysis process for picking stocks.

He then lifts the lid into how he made two of the most impressive calls in South African hedge fund history – predicting the collapse and shorting of both African Bank and Steinhoff.

Verster concludes the interview by briefly touching on other key investing topics – such as investing in local vs global shares and the investment case for Bitcoin.

Watch the interview with Jean Pierre Verster below.