Prominent South African investor cleared of Renergen foul play

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has found that investment manager Albie Cilliers did not contravene the Financial Markets Act following two investigations into alleged market abuse.

This comes after Cilliers, an activist investment manager at Cilandia Capital who regularly comments on local companies, made several critical remarks regarding South African energy company Renergen.

Cilliers told Daily Investor that he received notices of the FSCA investigations on 14 May 2025 and 28 May 2025.

These notices informed him that he was to appear for interviews, as formal investigations were launched into his alleged market abuse.

Specifically, Cilliers was accused of contravening Sections 78 and 81 of the Financial Markets Act, which address insider trading and the making of false, misleading, or deceptive statements, promises, and forecasts, respectively.

Cilliers told Daily Investor that the FSCA did not inform him who brought the allegations or complaints.

The first investigation specifically looked at his statements regarding Renergen made between October 2023 and March 2024.

Cilliers regularly comments on local companies, including Renergen, on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

The second investigation related to transactions in Renergen securities and certain disclosures made regarding the company during the same period.

On Tuesday, 13 January 2026, Cilliers announced via social media that the FSCA had notified him that it had not found any contraventions of the Financial Markets Act and had decided to close both investigations.

“I am happy with the outcome as I always strive to get to the truth and comment fairly about publicly listed companies, which by their very nature have freely chosen to invite independent analysis and public scrutiny and comment on their business,” he told Daily Investor.

“I have spent an enormous amount of personal time for two years in an attempt to publicly provide information and independent analysis on Renergen for the sole benefit of the public at large.”

Renergen and Cilliers

Cilliers explained that, while he is confident that he did nothing wrong with his comments, it is concerning that such attempts are made to stifle free speech and silence public comment about listed companies.

“The X social media platform promotes finding the truth and provides various ways for anyone to respond publicly to views and opinions of investors and the public at large,” he said.

“Apart from replying directly to a post, and correcting any alleged misinformation if necessary, there is also the Community Notes feature.”

This feature assists in cases where complaints can be made about a particular post. If found to have merit, a “community note” is placed below the original post, providing additional perspectives and context.

“These days, Grok, an AI model of X, can also be queried directly from any post for more clarification or information,” he said.

Cilliers has been one of the most vocal voices in raising questions regarding Renergen’s operations and financials over the past few years.

In particular, Cilliers has alleged that Renergen does not have the gas reserves it claims to have, and called into question the company’s continued delays in commercially producing liquid helium.

Renergen was listed on the JSE in June 2015, promoting itself as a company focused on alternative energy solutions.

Its main asset is the Virginia Gas Project in the Free State, which the company said could produce large quantities of liquid natural gas and liquid helium.

Renergen secured gas rights spanning 87,000 hectares for this project in the Free State in 2012.

However, to date, the company has yet to confirm whether it has sold liquid helium from the Virginia Gas Project and has repeatedly missed its own deadlines for doing so.

Renergen was recently acquired by NASDAQ-listed ASP Isotopes, a development-stage advanced materials company focused on developing technology and processes for isotope production.

As a result of this acquisition, which was completed near the end of 2025, Renergen was delisted from the JSE on 12 January 2026.

Daily Investor reached out to Renergen for comment regarding the FSCA’s investigation into Cilliers’ remarks about the company, but did not receive a response.